UPDATE 1-Volvo CEO holds to Europe, N.America outlooks

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Wed Jun 18, 2008 3:18pm BST

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LYON, France, June 18 (Reuters) - World number two truck maker Volvo's (VOLVb.ST) chief executive on Wednesday reaffirmed the company's outlook this year in its two main markets, North America and Europe.

Leif Johansson said at an investor event in Lyon, France that he still expects the North American market to come in roughly flat this year compared with a relatively weak 2007 -- as indicated a couple months ago.

"Same as in April," Johansson told reporters on the sidelines of investor presentations, when asked about the outlook. "It means slower than we thought at the beginning of the year, fairly stable versus 2007."

Johansson said Volvo, which makes Mack, Renault and Nissan Diesel trucks, had not changed its outlook for Europe's heavy truck market either. Volvo has previously said growth in the market there would be about 10 percent in 2008.

In a presentation earlier in the day, Johansson had said the U.S. truck market was not recovering to the extent expected by the company earlier this year.

Johansson told the investor conference that the group's North American truck operations were working to keep up their strong performance "even if the North American market was not coming up as much we had expected it to earlier in the year".

Volvo shares were down 2.2 percent at 1407 GMT against a 1 percent fall in the blue chip Stockholm index .OMXS30.

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty via Stockholm Newsroom; Editing by David Cowell)

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