- Renault Trucks
Renault Trucks is a French truck manufacturer with its corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near
Lyon .Since 2001 it has been owned by
Volvo Group .From its beginnings in 1978 to 2002, the company was called _fr. Renault Véhicules Industriels ( _en. Renault Commercial Vehicles), from 1992 on officially written as Renault V. I., with either form commonly abbreviated
RVI . Until 1999, RVI also manufacturedbus es.History
In 1956, the company
Saviem was formed as a subsidiary company ofRenault from the combination of Renault's own truck and bus production with the producersSomua andLatil . 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 fromMichelin . 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.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 ofIveco ) for the production of medium-sized trucks. The truck models resulting from this cooperation would be produced by Saviem and later Renault even until2001 and also be sold on the North American market as "Mack Mid-Liner". For the military trucks of the Sherpa range, Renault even today (July 2006) uses a derivative of the "Club of Four" cab.In 1978, PSA Group had bought
Chrysler 's European operations. Included in the deal were commercial vehicle operations in the UK andSpain , which at that time used the brand nameDodge . 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 theRootes Group with originally carried the brand namesKarrier andCommer . 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 Renaultbadge . 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 mother company Renault a 40%
stake in the American manufacturerMack Trucks which became a fully-owned subsidiary of RVI in1990 .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 subsidiaryIrisbus . 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 mother 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 overACMAT .In 2008 Renault Trucks owner Volvo AB was fined US$4million after a combined [http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2008/lr20504.htm US Federal Bureau of Investigation/Department of Justice/Securites and Exchange Commission investigation] into bribery allegations relating to abuse of the United Nations 'Oil For Food' program during the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. According to papers filed by federal investigators, Renault Trucks paid kickbacks to the Iraqi Government in return for vehicle orders by arranging for sub-contractors to artificially inflate invoices for vehicle body customization work. The sub-contractors then passed on the surplus money to the Iraqi Government in direct contravention of United Nations restrictions.
Products
Hybrid trucks
Hybrid truck :
*Renault Puncher 280HP / 20 or 26tonne s.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 ).Delivery Range
*
Renault Master
*Renault Mascott Distribution Range
*
Renault Midlum (sold in Australia as Mack Midlum)
*Renault Premium (sold in Australia as Mack Premium)Construction Range
*
Renault Kerax
*Renault Premium Lander Long Distance Range
*
Renault Premium Route
*Renault Magnum (formerly sold in Australia and New Zealand as Mack Magnum)Former truck models
*
Dodge 50 Series
*Dodge 100 "Commando"
*Dodge 300 Series
*Renault C
*Renault B (Messenger)
*Renault M /Renault S (Midliner)
*Renault G (Manager/Maxter)
*Renault R (Major)Buses and coaches
*
Renault PR100
*Renault R 312
*Renault Agora
*Renault FR 1
*Renault Iliade Military vehicles
*
Renault Sherpa 2 -3
*Renault Sherpa 5–20
* Renault VAB - an armored personnel carrier
* VBMO - a VAB based 6x6internal security vehicle
*ACMAT - a subsidiary manufacturer of tactical vehiclesConcept vehicles
*
Renault Radiance
*Renault Magnum Vega See also
*
Dump truck andlist of dump truck manufacturers
*Electric vehicle References
External links
* [http://www.renault-trucks.com/ Renault Trucks Global Website]
* [http://www.via64.net/BARREIROS_WEB/renault/renault.htm Spanish Renault trucks gallery]
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