Scania: Sleeping Giant in Emerging VW Truck Portfolio?

[kscarbel2]

Heavy Duty Trucking / June 2014

Who is Scania, and why should you care?

Unlike Volkswagen, which is a household name in the U.S. because of its cars, the Scania name is not well-known here – although if you've been in the business for a long time, you may remember Scania's unsuccessful attempt to introduce its trucks to the U.S. market in the mid-'80s.

Last month, Volkswagen, which already controlled more than 89% of the voting rights in the Swedish truck maker, made a 6.7 billion euro ($9.2 billion) takeover bid.

VW's goal is to combine Scania with its Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles business and the German truck maker MAN. VW gained full control of MAN last year after taking a majority stake in 2011.

This is a big step in the German automaker's plan to create a massive trucks alliance to compete in global markets against rivals Volvo and Daimler – both of which have U.S. truck operations as well.

Observers believe North America will be included in these worldwide efforts. There are already some cross-Atlantic ties. Navistar shares engineering and engine development with MAN, Cummins with Scania. Rumors have long circulated that VW wants to buy a U.S. truck maker, such as Navistar or even Paccar.

"We can now take the next logical and consistent step in our strategy to strengthen the operating integration of Scania, MAN and VW commercial vehicles," said Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn at VW's annual shareholder meeting in Hanover, Germany.

Another big step was the recent hiring of Andreas Renschler to head the VW Truck Group. Before, for almost 10 years, Renschler was at the helm of Daimler Commercial Vehicles. With Daimler Trucks North America holding the market share leader position in the U.S., Renschler has valuable experience with the commercial truck market here.

Europe's biggest automotive group, VW has the financial muscles to replicate in trucks the success of its multi-brand strategy in passenger cars.

The VW-led alliance aims to deepen cooperation in areas including drivetrains, chassis and electronics. Because VW's commercial vehicle experience is primarily with cargo vans, it needs the heavy-truck muscle of MAN and Scania, especially Scania's expertise in advanced technology and top production skills and its high-end brand reputation.

So who is Scania?

Employing some 41,000 people, Scania operates in more than 100 countries throughout the world. It is a leading manufacturer of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications and of industrial and marine engines. The company already sells engines in the U.S. for boats and for construction, agriculture and stationary equipment.

In 2013, net sales totaled SEK 86.8 billion ($13.10 billion) and net income amounted to SEK 6.2 billion (almost $1 million). Like Paccar in the U.S., Scania has a history of consistently showing profits.

On the technical front, Scania has a long-established cooperation with America’s Cummins on fuel injection technology like XPI.

Production takes place in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. There are production facilities in Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Brazil and Argentina. Scania also has assembly operations in another 10 countries, operating in Africa, Asia and Australia.

Scania’s product range is based on a unique modular system that allows a large variety of truck models to be built using a limited number of components and sub-assemblies. Some are also shared between trucks and buses. Scania’s production methods and environmental standards are the same the world over. Models and components are interchangeable between factories and continents.

In theory, using far fewer than 20,000 components, Scania can produce almost 2 billion variants.

During its 120 years of operation, Scania has built 1.6 million trucks and buses, of which more than 600,000 are considered to still be in regular operation. The company’s millionth truck was built in 2002.

Only V-8 diesel meeting Euro 6

Today, Scania is the only manufacturer to offer V-8 truck engines that live up to the Euro 6 emissions standards, in 520, 580, and 730 horsepower versions. Euro 6 standards are similar to EPA 2010 standards in the U.S.

This 16.4-liter V-8 engine was launched in 2000 as a completely new design, based on the unit cylinder use in all Scania engines for 9-, 12-, 13- and 16-liter engines.

Scania has long been known for its powerful V-8 engines. Its first was introduced in 1969. The 14-liter with 350 horsepower at the time was Europe's most powerful truck engine – a title this engine kept for many years.

As early as the summer of 2011, Scania let the press test-drive engines meeting Euro 6 requirements. The 13-liter, in-line six-cylinder engines with 440 and 480 horsepower were ready two and a half years before the standard took effect at the start of 2014. The 520- and 580-horsepower models followed by late summer 2013 and the 730-horsepower debuted in early winter 2013.

How it started

In 1911, two companies named Vabis and Scania merged to form Scania-Vabis.

Scania can be described as one of the pioneers in the European vehicle industry, as its roots go back to 1891.

Scania started with the production of bicycles and extended its operations to automobiles in the early 1900s. Its first truck appeared in 1902 and carried 1.5 tons of cargo. It was equipped with a 2-cylinder engine with 12 horsepower, placed under the driver’s seat. Scania was named after the Latin word for the province where it was located, "Skåne."

Vabis (a Swedish acronym) was a manufacturing company founded in 1891 to produce railway carriages. It produced its first automobile in 1897 and then went for commercial vehicles. In 1902 Vabis built its first truck. It had a 2-cylinder, 12-horsepower engine and 1.5 ton-payload. Top speed was 12 km/hour, which was twice the speed of the ordinary trot of a work horse.

The new combined company produced cars, complete buses, trucks, and special vehicles such as fire engines. Production of bicycles and railway carriages was discontinued.

[bullhusk]

Heavy Duty Trucking / June 2014

Who is Scania, and why should you care?

Unlike Volkswagen, which is a household name in the U.S. because of its cars, the Scania name is not well-known here – although if you've been in the business for a long time, you may remember Scania's unsuccessful attempt to introduce its trucks to the U.S. market in the mid-'80s.

Last month, Volkswagen, which already controlled more than 89% of the voting rights in the Swedish truck maker, made a 6.7 billion euro ($9.2 billion) takeover bid.

VW's goal is to combine Scania with its Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles business and the German truck maker MAN. VW gained full control of MAN last year after taking a majority stake in 2011.

This is a big step in the German automaker's plan to create a massive trucks alliance to compete in global markets against rivals Volvo and Daimler – both of which have U.S. truck operations as well.

Observers believe North America will be included in these worldwide efforts. There are already some cross-Atlantic ties. Navistar shares engineering and engine development with MAN, Cummins with Scania. Rumors have long circulated that VW wants to buy a U.S. truck maker, such as Navistar or even Paccar.

"We can now take the next logical and consistent step in our strategy to strengthen the operating integration of Scania, MAN and VW commercial vehicles," said Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn at VW's annual shareholder meeting in Hanover, Germany.

Another big step was the recent hiring of Andreas Renschler to head the VW Truck Group. Before, for almost 10 years, Renschler was at the helm of Daimler Commercial Vehicles. With Daimler Trucks North America holding the market share leader position in the U.S., Renschler has valuable experience with the commercial truck market here.

Europe's biggest automotive group, VW has the financial muscles to replicate in trucks the success of its multi-brand strategy in passenger cars.

The VW-led alliance aims to deepen cooperation in areas including drivetrains, chassis and electronics. Because VW's commercial vehicle experience is primarily with cargo vans, it needs the heavy-truck muscle of MAN and Scania, especially Scania's expertise in advanced technology and top production skills and its high-end brand reputation.

So who is Scania?

Employing some 41,000 people, Scania operates in more than 100 countries throughout the world. It is a leading manufacturer of trucks and buses for heavy transport applications and of industrial and marine engines. The company already sells engines in the U.S. for boats and for construction, agriculture and stationary equipment.

In 2013, net sales totaled SEK 86.8 billion ($13.10 billion) and net income amounted to SEK 6.2 billion (almost $1 million). Like Paccar in the U.S., Scania has a history of consistently showing profits.

On the technical front, Scania has a long-established cooperation with America’s Cummins on fuel injection technology like XPI.

Production takes place in Europe and South America, with facilities for global interchange of both components and complete vehicles. There are production facilities in Sweden, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Brazil and Argentina. Scania also has assembly operations in another 10 countries, operating in Africa, Asia and Australia.

Scania’s product range is based on a unique modular system that allows a large variety of truck models to be built using a limited number of components and sub-assemblies. Some are also shared between trucks and buses. Scania’s production methods and environmental standards are the same the world over. Models and components are interchangeable between factories and continents.

In theory, using far fewer than 20,000 components, Scania can produce almost 2 billion variants.

During its 120 years of operation, Scania has built 1.6 million trucks and buses, of which more than 600,000 are considered to still be in regular operation. The company’s millionth truck was built in 2002.

Only V-8 diesel meeting Euro 6

Today, Scania is the only manufacturer to offer V-8 truck engines that live up to the Euro 6 emissions standards, in 520, 580, and 730 horsepower versions. Euro 6 standards are similar to EPA 2010 standards in the U.S.

This 16.4-liter V-8 engine was launched in 2000 as a completely new design, based on the unit cylinder use in all Scania engines for 9-, 12-, 13- and 16-liter engines.

Scania has long been known for its powerful V-8 engines. Its first was introduced in 1969. The 14-liter with 350 horsepower at the time was Europe's most powerful truck engine – a title this engine kept for many years.

As early as the summer of 2011, Scania let the press test-drive engines meeting Euro 6 requirements. The 13-liter, in-line six-cylinder engines with 440 and 480 horsepower were ready two and a half years before the standard took effect at the start of 2014. The 520- and 580-horsepower models followed by late summer 2013 and the 730-horsepower debuted in early winter 2013.

How it started

In 1911, two companies named Vabis and Scania merged to form Scania-Vabis.

Scania can be described as one of the pioneers in the European vehicle industry, as its roots go back to 1891.

Scania started with the production of bicycles and extended its operations to automobiles in the early 1900s. Its first truck appeared in 1902 and carried 1.5 tons of cargo. It was equipped with a 2-cylinder engine with 12 horsepower, placed under the driver’s seat. Scania was named after the Latin word for the province where it was located, "Skåne."

Vabis (a Swedish acronym) was a manufacturing company founded in 1891 to produce railway carriages. It produced its first automobile in 1897 and then went for commercial vehicles. In 1902 Vabis built its first truck. It had a 2-cylinder, 12-horsepower engine and 1.5 ton-payload. Top speed was 12 km/hour, which was twice the speed of the ordinary trot of a work horse.

The new combined company produced cars, complete buses, trucks, and special vehicles such as fire engines. Production of bicycles and railway carriages was discontinued.

There are more then a few running around here in Jersey! They came out of Franks GMC and truck Center in Lyndhurst NJ, all I can say is that you can't pry the Euro owner drivers out a them!! The love there Scania and will not part with them! I think Franks still can get parts for them

BULLHUSK

[kscarbel2]

Financially, Volkswagen towers over Volvo.

North America is the only global region that VW Group's Scania and MAN truck units don't directly* participate in. Will VW decide to take advantage of Navistar's weakness and acquire the truckmaker, thus giving it a global presence in the heavy truck segment? That's a good question with several angles of thought.

Speaking of profitability, the North American truck market is a far cry from its heyday, and not terribly profitable. But if you want to become the third global truckmaker (with operations in every region INCLUDING the U.S.), then................

In my humble opinion, Scania has become the global leader in heavy truck design. The other truckmakers build a good truck, but the industry's cutting edge innovation takes place at Scania. Frankly speaking, it's the company's culture. They're truck people with an incomparable passion for innovation and refinement.

There's an immense sense of pride at Scania. From the very beginning, they never had it easy. Every step was a challenge. And this I believe created a much more embedded culture of innovation.

The company culture at Navistar wouldn't mesh well with the Germans at VW Group. The purchase would only serve to instantly provide Scania (or MAN) with a U.S. distrubution network.

*MAN sells marine engines in North America, and Scania sells industrial engines including marine engines.

[BC Mack]

kscarbel..

this one could get interesting..!!

the US market is, as you say, not very profitable but could be seen by VW as "prestigious'...

VW have class 8 production in S America with a MAN product iirc, Scania have always sought commonality of production assemblies across their product line, more than Volvo did with their european made trucks.

not sure the US is ready for another product line which would dilute market share and products of all makers... a takeover or co-operation with an existing maker with a blended Scania / MAN badged accordingly for market tastes?, maybe.

but which sub-market would they go for???

one angle explored by European carmakers such as Mercedes and BMW is the low production and land costs, low wages in TN and fed/state incentives with a lowered dollar to euro is making these two car makers very profitable, shipped US made product back to EU for sale with greater margins... never thought the US would be considered as a low cost manufacturing country!!! I though that is why Romania and Bulgaria were added to the EU partnership..

BC Mack

[BC Mack]

There are more then a few running around here in Jersey! They came out of Franks GMC and truck Center in Lyndhurst NJ, all I can say is that you can't pry the Euro owner drivers out a them!! The love there Scania and will not part with them! I think Franks still can get parts for them

BULLHUSK

there are a few in Ontario too... Legacy Express, Scania 143's

I'm not too sure the US market would take to the Longline with XXL cab... even with XXL drivers

BC Mack

[Lmackattack]

personally I dislike the looks of the euro trucks. they don't look like the trucks I saw as a kid and they all share similar styling. I like the big hoods and bunks of the 80's and 90's. I don't think I would enjoy driving a box with a speed limiter or 55MPH! but that's just me LOL

Im sure they have more advanced engineering than U.S Truck Mfg but I still like the somewhat simplicity of the few U.S brands.

The U.S has very little hold on much anything anymore and This seams like another slip in the knot towards U.S truck brands being all but forgotten.

[kscarbel2]

Yes, this could get very interesting indeed.

If you have a chance to look at the global brand trucks while you're overseas, you'll vividly see that each truckmaker has a distinctly different design culture. MAN compared to Iveco compared to DAF, they are all completely different.

If Scania or MAN came to the US, they could create a conventional based on their COE cab, as has been done many times before.

The original Freightliner Business Class conventional (1991-2001) utilized a COE cab from the Mercedes-Benz model LN.

The stunning Freightliner Argosy II COE shares the same cab as the Century Class, Columbia and Coronado (the Argosy variant is 305mm wider).

The Mack MS Mid-Liner COE shared the same cab used on the Mack CS Mid-Liner conventional, and Renault’s C, CBH and GBC conventional models.

The DAF XT conventional is based on the DAF XF105 COE.

Scania's T-Series utililzed the company's Bertone-designed 4-Series COE cab.

The global market Volvo NH conventional was based on the FH/FM COE cab. The NH was full-width like the FH COE, while the North American market VN was a narrowed variant.

And of course the impressive Iveco "Powerstar" conventional, under consideration to lead the return of Dodge heavy trucks in the US market, utilizes the Stralis COE cab.

http://182.160.139.178/~hiway1/sites/default/files/Iveco%20-%20Powerstar.pdf

[james j neiweem]

If you got rid of all that orange stuff(UUUUgly) above and dropped a Aussie Superliner/Trident on the Scannia V8 drive train. Then you would have something.

[bullhusk]

I saw one today in Newark NJ at a RM yard and talked to the driver from Spain his is a cab over with a dump body, It's a 6 cyl Scania diesel and all SC drive train.....................OVER 1 Million miles on the drive train and the Motor has not been touched! the man bought the truck new from Franks Truck center back in the 80's I talked to him about the Scania trucks in the Euro market from what he told me is when you need a truck, a real good truck to do heavy work you buy a Scania! I never thought to much about them untill now, but when I thought about it these trucks have been running around Jersey now for almost 30 years, the same ones! So there has to be something about them that is good cause except for me runnin my 86 mack and 93 Pete's there aint to many US trucks 30 years old left runnin around any more! I hope to have my 1971 RL700L on the road by the end of the summer an I am sure that will have some peoples ears bleeeeedddng! LOL

BULLHUSK

By the way the cabs and doors an stuff is all still in great shape!!

[BC Mack]

kscarbel

the european truck styling heritage is somewhat evident even today.. but go back to the 60/70's and it was so easy to determine a vehicle from a distance... Fiat, Daf, Volvo, Scania, Leyland, ERF, Renault... all were very distinctive as were cars of that era... and most produced their own engines too... none of this assembling other peoples products where only sheet metal made the difference. Cab commonality from suppliers like Motor Panels and the LAD concept started in the late 60's in the UK. I blame the european "club cab" co-operation in the late 70's, all done as an economy drive and when competition heated up in a diminishing market of the early 80's it was hard to know what a truck was if the badges fell off.. was that a Volvo F7 or a Saviem that just went by????

today, with the "white box" mentality they are all starting to blend just like Mercedes and Hundai cars now are too much alike.

your concept of a coe cab onto a conventional hooded chassis has been done before by many, again, a cost saving concept for tooling and part minimalisation.

the us market is a tough nut to crack... if VW wishes to enter then expect a severe defence to be put up by Daimler and Volvo, perhaps we users may get a better truck in the end, who knows.

BC Mack

[BC Mack]

I saw one today in Newark NJ at a RM yard and talked to the driver from Spain his is a cab over with a dump body, It's a 6 cyl Scania diesel and all SC drive train.....................OVER 1 Million miles on the drive train and the Motor has not been touched! the man bought the truck new from Franks Truck center back in the 80's I talked to him about the Scania trucks in the Euro market from what he told me is when you need a truck, a real good truck to do heavy work you buy a Scania! I never thought to much about them untill now, but when I thought about it these trucks have been running around Jersey now for almost 30 years, the same ones! So there has to be something about them that is good cause except for me runnin my 86 mack and 93 Pete's there aint to many US trucks 30 years old left runnin around any more! I hope to have my 1971 RL700L on the road by the end of the summer an I am sure that will have some peoples ears bleeeeedddng! LOL

BULLHUSK

By the way the cabs and doors an stuff is all still in great shape!!

Bullhusk

if what you saw was a 143 then I don't doubt those numbers.... the early series 1x0 and 1x1 (the x for engine, 6cyl is 1 and the v8 is 4) were known for their cab worm, as was the Volvo F88/89... to the purist, the Scania 143 was the pinacle of the design and even at 20-30 years old still hold esteem.

BC Mack

[bullhusk]

Bullhusk

if what you saw was a 143 then I don't doubt those numbers.... the early series 1x0 and 1x1 (the x for engine, 6cyl is 1 and the v8 is 4) were known for their cab worm, as was the Volvo F88/89... to the purist, the Scania 143 was the pinacle of the design and even at 20-30 years old still hold esteem.

BC Mack

Ya Know I did not get the model of the truck but it was still in great shape for its age! And so are the others that I see! I just saw a conventional today commin down Rt 78 again in great shape

BULLHUSK

[kscarbel2]

there are a few in Ontario too... Legacy Express, Scania 143's

I'm not too sure the US market would take to the Longline with XXL cab... even with XXL drivers

BC Mack

The Scania Longline with its lengthened cab is a personal favorite.

However, I would like readers to know that the paint scheme of the orange Scania Longline you shared is a niche style used by some owner operators, and not the norm in Europe.

.

[kscarbel2]

kscarbel

the european truck styling heritage is somewhat evident even today.. but go back to the 60/70's and it was so easy to determine a vehicle from a distance... Fiat, Daf, Volvo, Scania, Leyland, ERF, Renault... all were very distinctive as were cars of that era... and most produced their own engines too... none of this assembling other peoples products where only sheet metal made the difference. Cab commonality from suppliers like Motor Panels and the LAD concept started in the late 60's in the UK. I blame the european "club cab" co-operation in the late 70's, all done as an economy drive and when competition heated up in a diminishing market of the early 80's it was hard to know what a truck was if the badges fell off.. was that a Volvo F7 or a Saviem that just went by????

today, with the "white box" mentality they are all starting to blend just like Mercedes and Hundai cars now are too much alike.

your concept of a coe cab onto a conventional hooded chassis has been done before by many, again, a cost saving concept for tooling and part minimalisation.

the us market is a tough nut to crack... if VW wishes to enter then expect a severe defence to be put up by Daimler and Volvo, perhaps we users may get a better truck in the end, who knows.

BC Mack

In order for VW to successfully penetrate the US market (or for Fiat to relaunch the Dodge heavy truck brand), they would certainly have to offer an enticing truck.

I find the design cultures of Italy (Iveco), Germany (MAN and Daimler), Sweden (Scania and Volvo) and Russia (Kamaz, MAZ, Ural) to be distinctly different. And then breaking that down, the design and management culture of all the companies (e.g. Scania and Volvo) are again completely different. If the nameplates were removed, you'd never doubt what brand the trucks were.

[2stacksuperdog]

I saw one today in Newark NJ at a RM yard and talked to the driver from Spain his is a cab over with a dump body, It's a 6 cyl Scania diesel and all SC drive train.....................OVER 1 Million miles on the drive train and the Motor has not been touched! the man bought the truck new from Franks Truck center back in the 80's I talked to him about the Scania trucks in the Euro market from what he told me is when you need a truck, a real good truck to do heavy work you buy a Scania! I never thought to much about them untill now, but when I thought about it these trucks have been running around Jersey now for almost 30 years, the same ones! So there has to be something about them that is good cause except for me runnin my 86 mack and 93 Pete's there aint to many US trucks 30 years old left runnin around any more! I hope to have my 1971 RL700L on the road by the end of the summer an I am sure that will have some peoples ears bleeeeedddng! LOL

BULLHUSK

By the way the cabs and doors an stuff is all still in great shape!!

Your gonna have to run that RL700 up to New Haven one day. See your trucks getting loaded all the time.