What it means the letters "CKD"

[Bill Murray]

Just to keep the conversation animated, there were at least two other terms used both then and now.

SKD is the letter symbol for "Semi knocked down" and apparently referred to vehicles etc. that were closer to completion than CKD vehicles.

I have also seen the term PKD, "Partially knocked down", which may be another way of describing the SKD situation.

I do know that when I was working for Volvo in Peru, the law that gave us exclusive rights to sell trucks over 3 tonnes was based on a very complicated CKD set up.

We would receive shipments based on a "bill of materiels" that corresponded to whatever type vehicle was involved and that was matched with an assembly sequence set of paperwork for that vehicle. In most cases, the cabin and body were locally produced as were a lot of parts like glass, tyres etc.

The local content and the assembly labour were to assure as much Peruvian content and local labour input as possible. I would like to say here that the combination of a very dedicated Swedish plant management and very dedicated Peruvian assembly staff resulted in some pretty damn good trucks and busses.

Certainly better than the CBU (Completely built up) trucks that were supplied to the then Communist Regime of Pres. Velasco by the then Soviet Union.

My office window overlooked the Pan American Highway and I used to laugh at the number of Russian prime movers, trucks and armoured cars that broke down within my view as they moved up and down the Highway.

Sorry for the long post, but the concept continued long after WWII and continues to this day in many countries.

Bill