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Renault Trucks SAS
Type Subsidiary
Headquarters Saint-Priest
Key people Stefano Chmielewski (President & CEO)
Products Trucks
Employees 14360
Parent AB Volvo
Website www.renault-trucks.com
Renault van Lahti

Renault van Lahti

Damour57 1132335393 magnum440 001

New Renault Magnum

Renault Trucks is a French truck manufacturer with its corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Since 2001 Renault truck has been owned by Volvo Truck.

From its beginnings in 1978 to 2002, the company was called (French:Renault Véhicules Industriels) (English: Renault Commercial Vehicles), from 1992 on officially written as Renault V. I., with either form commonly abbreviated RVI. Until 1999, RVI also manufactured buses.

History

In 1956, the company Saviem was formed as a subsidiary company of Renault from the combination of Renault's own truck and bus production with the producers Somua and Latil. From 1957 on, Saviem was also used as the brand name for the trucks and buses produced by the company.

As a result of French industrial policy, in 1975 state-owned Renault also acquired the truck and bus producer Berliet from Michelin. In 1978, Berliet and Saviem were merged to form Renault Véhicules Industriels. Again, the old brand names were retained for two more years while the model lineups gradually were incorporated, until in 1980 they were replaced by the name Renault.

Police Paris CRS vehicule dsc06486

Renault Midliner with Club of Four cab, late 1990s model

From 1975 on, Saviem also had been a member in the Club of Four, a cooperation between four European truck producers (Saviem, Volvo, DAF and Magirus-Deutz, which soon after became a part of Iveco) for the production of medium-sized trucks. The truck models resulting from this cooperation would be produced by Saviem and later Renault even until 2001 and also be sold on the North American market as Mack Mid-Liner. For the military trucks of the Sherpa range, Renault was still using a derivative of the Club of Four cab in July 2006.

In 1978, PSA Group had bought Chrysler's European operations. Included in the deal were commercial vehicle operations in the United Kingdom and Spain, which at that time used the brand name Dodge. PSA however sold them on to RVI in 1983, having itself little interest in the commercial vehicle market. The newly acquired operations in the UK had their origins in the commercial vehicle branch of the Rootes Group with originally carried the brand names Karrier and Commer. Some of the models built there were continued in production for several years by RVI, who also kept the Dodge brand name for these models, albeit in combination with the Renault badge. In Spain, however, where Renault already was recognized as a local automobile producer, the Dodge trucks, which originally had been developed by the manufacturer Barreiros Diesel, were rebadged as Renaults and soon after replaced by French-designed models.

In 1987, RVI took over from its parent company Renault a 40% stake in the American manufacturer Mack Trucks which became a fully-owned subsidiary of RVI in 1990.

In 1994, RVI took over the Czech bus manufacturer Karosa.

In 1997, Renault V. I. entered into a cooperation agreement with the Finnish truck producer Sisu.

In 1999, the bus and coach operations under the brand names Renault and Karosa were split off from RVI and merged with Fiat-Iveco's bus and coach operations to form the jointly-owned subsidiary Irisbus. In 2003, Irisbus became a full subsidiary of Iveco and the brand Renault on its products was replaced by the brand Irisbus.

On 2 January 2001, Renault V. I. (including Mack Trucks, but not Renault S. A.'s stake in Irisbus) was sold to Volvo, which renamed it Renault Trucks in 2002. As a result, the parent company 'Renault' S. A. is AB Volvo's biggest shareholder, with a 20% stake, shares and voting rights.

As of 22 May 2006 Renault Trucks took over ACMAT.

Renault Model range

Renault Premium-Giraud (B)-2003

Renault Premium

Camion dakar

Renault Kerax as service vehicle at Dakar Rally 2004

Renault Midlum Adam - Strasbourg

Renault Midlum

Renault Tracer Strasbourg

Renault Tracer bus

Renault FR1 Jaslo

Renault FR1 bus

Current truck models (as of July 2006)

There is no model name in the front of the vehicle (in some combinations, the trailer doesn't allow to see the model name in the rear part of the tractor unit).

Construction Range

Delivery Range

Distribution Range

Hybrid trucks

Hybrid truck:

  • Renault Puncher 280 HP / 20 or 26 tonnes.

Long Distance Range

  • Renault Premium Route
  • Renault Magnum (formerly sold in Australia and New Zealand as Mack Magnum) A Large tractor unit which is a popular choice for heavy-haulage use as it was available with very high hp engines.

Former truck models

Buses and coaches

See also: Irisbus
  • Renault Agora
  • Renault Civis was quickly rebranded Irisbus Civis following the sale of Renault Bus
  • Renault E7, originally launched as the Saviem E7 in 1969
  • Renault ER100, originally launched under the Berliet ER100 name in 1977, replaced by the Irisbus Cristalis
  • Renault FR1, sold for a short time in the USA as Mack FR1. Facelifted and renamed Renault Iliade in 1997
  • Renault Iliade
  • Renault PER180, diesel-trolleybus hybrid based on the Renault PR180
  • Renault PR14, originally launched in 1974 as the Berliet Crusair
  • Renault PR80S, derived from the Renault PR100
  • Renault PR100, previously sold under the Berliet PR100 name, launched in 1972.
    • Renault PR100.2 - Some Australian versions of the PR100.2 carried dual Renault and Mack logos
    • Renault PR100.3
  • Renault PR112 was a 1994 upgrade to the PR100 using a front end designed by coachbuilder Safra
  • Renault PR180 was the articulated version of the PR100, launched in 1981, later to become the Renault PR112 following a facelift
  • Renault R 312, replaced in 1996 by the Renault Agora, then renamed Irisbus Agora in 2002. In Australia it was sold as the Renault PR100.3
  • Renault Recreo school bus built by Karosa
  • Renault S-Series coach was marketed as Renault (such as the Renault S45), Saviem and Saviem-Chausson during its production period of 1977 to 1993[2]
  • Renault SC10, initially sold as the Saviem SC10 from 1965, and then in 1981 it was upgraded to the Renault SC10R when the distinctive curved front window was lost. The SC10U, and its replacement SC10RA featured the unique open rear deck.[3]
  • Renault TN4 and Renault TN6 from the 1930s[4]
  • Renault Tracer, replaced by Renault Arés in 2000 and renamed Irisbus Arés in 2001

Military vehicles

  • Renault Sherpa 2-3
  • Renault Sherpa 5–20
  • Renault VAB - an armored personnel carrier
  • VBMO - a VAB based 6x6 internal security vehicle
  • ACMAT - a subsidiary manufacturer of tactical vehicles

Concept vehicles

Preservation

Renault Trucks are generally too modern to appear on the UK rally circuit for classic vehicles, but a few examples appear at more general truck shows in operateors colour schemes, or as custom trucks. The odd example is used by collectors to move there Vintage and classic vehicles to shows.

See also

References / sources

Base article expanded with history from Wikipedia one.

External links

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Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Renault Trucks. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia


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