On Wednesday, Volvo said that it has appointed president and chief executive of Volkswagen-owned Scania as its new head.

Martin Lundstedt has replaced Olof Persson who led the global truck maker for nearly four years. Lundstedt will take control of the position in October. As a part of the reshuffle, Jan Gurander, the group's chief financial officer, will become the president.

During Persson's four-year reign, profit margins of the company fell consistently despite a restructuring program designed to reduce costs by SKr10bn ($1.15bn) and cut more than 5,000 jobs.

Volvo has been struggling with its profitability ever since the financial crisis. The operating margin had just hit a record high of 9.7% when Mr. Persson took over as chief executive in 2011.

As margins sunk to 7.9% in the third quarter later that year, he announced plans to increase them by three percentage points. However, margins continued to sink. The company faced difficult times in truck markets in Europe.

Volvo also announced its first quarter report on Wednesday. The truck maker said that its operating profit excluding one-off items rose to 4.60 billion Swedish crowns ($531.38 million) from a year-ago 2.59 billion. The profit topped a mean forecast of 3.47 billion in Reuters poll of analysts.

The company's operating margins rose to 6.1% in the first quarter, which were 3% in 2014 excluding restructuring charges. Scania recorded an operating margin of 9.5% last year.

Carl-Henric Svanberg, Volvo's chairman said, "After three years of focus on product renewal, internal efficiency and restructuring, the Volvo Group is gradually entering a new phase with an intensified focus on growth and increased profitability".

He added that Lundstedt has 25 years of experience from development, production and sales within the commercial vehicle industry. He is also known for his winning leadership style.