World number two truck maker Volvo said this week its truck deliveries in May fell 57 percent from a year earlier as the global downturn weighed on demand for commercial vehicles across its main markets.

But the Swedish maker of commercial vehicles noted that the shipments of 9,446 units still represented an increase of 3 percent compared with the prior month.

Volvo, which plunged to a wider-than-expected loss in the first quarter, is in the midst of cutting thousands of jobs to adjust to what it has described as the steepest ever decline in market demand.

The credit crunch has left truck buyers starved of money to fund the purchase of new vehicles while the recession across a wide swath of Volvo's main markets and gloomy outlook has further dampened customer appetite.

Volvo, which sells trucks under brands such as Renault, Nissan Diesel and Mack as well as its own name, said in a statement shipments fell 64 percent year-on-year in Europe, its biggest market, and 62 percent in North America.

In Asia, truck deliveries fell 54 percent from a year ago.

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