Saviem
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryAutomotive industry
Predecessors
Founded1955[1]
Defunct1978[1][2][3]
FateMerged into Renault Véhicules Industriels[1][2][3]
SuccessorRenault Trucks
Headquarters
Suresnes
,
France[4]
ProductsTrucks, light commercial vehicles, buses/coaches
ParentRégie Nationale des Usines Renault

The Société Anonyme de Véhicules Industriels et d'Équipements Mécaniques (French pronunciation: [sɔsjete anɔnim də veikyl ɛ̃dystʁijɛl e dekipmɑ̃ mekanik]), commonly known by the acronym Saviem (French pronunciation: [savjɛm]),[5] was a French manufacturer of trucks and buses/coaches part of the Renault group, headquartered in Suresnes, Île-de-France. The company was established in 1955 by merging Renault heavy vehicle operations with Somua and Latil and disappeared in 1978 when was merged with former rival Berliet to form Renault Véhicules Industriels.

The company initially had various factories for vehicle production around France (mainly at the Paris area) which came from its predecessors and Chausson, but it soon centred assembly on Blainville-sur-Orne (trucks) and Annonay (buses and coaches). Saviem formed partnerships with other manufacturers, leading to technology-sharing agreements.

History

Share of Saviem-LRS, issued 9. May 1956
A Saviem SG2

Early years

At the end of 1946, Renault abandoned the production of heavy trucks in view of its financial troubles, and the company lost the position of France's market leader which it had before World War II. However, the rapid development and production concentration on that sector made Renault to seek ways to enter into the market. In 1950, the Renault's technical chief, Fernand Picard, elaborated a plan to launch a limited range of trucks and buses with a single 105 CV engine, taking advantage of the economies of scale, which proved unsuccessful. In 1953, the strategy was changed and Renault decided to acquire rival manufacturers, starting with Somua and Latil.[6] The company Saviem was formed in October 1955 by the merger of Renault's trucks and buses manufacturing operations with Somua and Latil[1] and both Schneider (owner of Somua) and the Blum family (owner of Latil) had stakes in the new company.[6] Initially, the Saviem name was added besides the existing badges of the three forming companies but, from 1957 onwards, Saviem-LRS appeared as marque's name on the company's products (the acronym representing the former marques Latil, Renault and Somua), which was simplified to Saviem in 1960.[7] In 1959, Saviem became a whole-owned subsidiary of Renault. The early range of the company consisted of small commercial vehicles derived of Renault's existing models (Goélette and Galion), new medium and heavy trucks with Alfa Romeo engines[6] and Chausson support for the coach/bus production.[8] With an aggressive market approach focussed in volume rather than quality, Saviem became the leader by sales in France.[6]

New vehicles and partnerships

During the early 1960s the company introduced a renovated JL heavy and medium duty trucks range with a revised design,[1][7] new buses and coaches[7] and, in 1964, a S range of medium duty trucks (with Renault and Perkins engines), unveiled at the Paris Motor Show.[9] In January 1961, Saviem took control of the bus manufacturer Floirat, based at Annonay.[10] That year, Saviem signed a cooperation agreement with Henschel-Werke.[11] In 1962, Pierre Dreyfus decided to expand the European partnerships of Saviem and the company received a large capital amount from the French State for recapitalisation and modernisation. It also got the Limoges factory, which manufactured diesel engines. Between 1963 and 1966, Saviem moved most of its production from the Paris area to Blainville-sur-Orne and Annonay.[6] In 1967, the Blainville-sur-Orne factory produced 26,000 large goods vehicles and the Annonay factory 1,777 buses/coaches.[12] In 1965, Saviem acquired the French heavy equipment manufacturer Richard-Continental in a bid to compete with Caterpillar.[13]

From 1963 to 1977, Saviem cooperated with MAN of Germany (in 1967 such cooperation was expanded). As part of the agreement, Saviem supplied cabs and in return, MAN supplied axles and engines. The result of this was the launch of the SM (Saviem-MAN)[5][14] and JM[9] truck ranges in France. Renault also introduced the Super Galion, in partnership with Avia.[6] In 1975 Saviem, together with DAF, Volvo and Magirus-Deutz (soon after to become a part of Iveco) became co-founder of the Club of Four cooperation to produce medium-sized trucks.[1] At the same time, Saviem signed an agreement with DAC in Romania to provide engines for their new 6135.[15] The same year Saviem also acquired Sinpar[16] and completed, together with Fiat and Alfa Romeo, the construction of a joint production facility for engines (Sofim) in Foggia, Italy, at a cost of US$250 million.[17]

In January 1968, the main Saviem factory at Blainville-sur-Orne was the setting for one of the first workers' protests that led to the French May.[18]

Merger with Berliet

As a result of companies' reorganisation and a French State decision of unifying the heavy vehicle production in France, in 1975 Renault also acquired the truck and bus manufacturer Berliet from the Michelin group. In 1978, Berliet and Saviem were merged to form Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI).[3][6] Again, the old marque names were retained for two more years while the model lineups gradually were assimilated, and in April 1980 they were replaced by the name Renault, putting an end to the Saviem badging.[19] In 1977, its last year as a separate company within Renault, Saviem manufactured 35,059 buses/coaches and trucks.[3]

Facilities

As of 2015, the Limoges factory is owned by Volvo's Renault Trucks

Vénissieux and Saint-Ouen

Vénissieux[6] and Saint-Ouen[20] were Somua factories. Vénissieux continued producing trucks until 1962.[6] Saint-Ouen assembled engines[20] until that activity was completely transferred to Limoges in 1964[21] and later auto parts.

Suresnes and Saint-Cloud

Suresnes and Saint-Cloud were Latil factories.[6] Suresnes slowly ceased production but was kept as the head office and research and development base for the company.[21]

Argenteuil

The Argenteuil factory was a former Chausson bus/coach facility operated by Saviem since 1960. It produced parts for both Saviem and Chausson.[6]

Annonay

The coach/bus factory since 1961, originally part of Floirat and Isobloc.[10]

Blainville-sur-Orne

Built in 1956 on the former Cahen shipyards, Blainville was the only truck factory owned by Saviem from 1966 onwards.[6]

Limoges

In May 1964, the French government donated to Saviem the Limoges factory, a manufacturing facility for aircraft engine parts. Limoges became the main engine assembly location of the company.[21]

Lyon

Saviem-owned Richard-Continental had two factories in Lyon.[13]

Models

Trucks and light commercial vehicles

Buses and coaches

Military trucks

A Saviem SM8 TRM4000 military truck.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carroll, John; Davies, Peter James (2007). Complete Book Tractors and Trucks. Hermes House. pp. 66–67. ISBN 1-84309-689-7.
  2. 1 2 Kolodziej, Edward A. (1983). "France". In Ball, Nicole; Leitenberg, Milton (eds.). The Structure of the Defense Industry: An International Survey. Routledge. p. 85. ISBN 0-7099-1611-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Fourth Section: Manufacturer's profile". Transit bus manufacturer profiles. Washington DC: U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Urban Mass Transportation Administration, Office of Technical Assistance, Office of Bus and Paratransit Systems: 128–137. October 1982. OCLC 9384438.
  4. ↑ Pérignon, Sylvain (1968). "Action syndicale et décentralisation industrielle : les grèves de janvier 1968 dans la région caennaise" [Union action and industrial decentralisation: January 1968 strikes in Caen]. L'Homme et la société. L'Harmattan (9). doi:10.3406/homso.1968.1141. ISSN 2101-0226.
  5. 1 2 3 Bähr, Johannes; Banken, Rolf; Flemming, Thomas (2008). "Vierter Teil: Der Weg zur heutigen MAN Gruppe (1960–2008)". Die MAN: eine deutsche Industriegeschichte [MAN: a German industrial history] (in German). CH Beck. pp. 388–389. ISBN 978-3-406-57762-8.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Greve, Jean François (2007). "Stratégies d'enterprise et action publique". In Moguen-Toursel, Marine (ed.). Firm strategies and public policy in integrated Europe (1950–1980): confrontation and learning of economic actors. Peter Lang. pp. 197–231. ISBN 978-90-5201-045-8.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Kuipers, J. F. J. (1972). A history of commercial vehicles of the world. Oakwood Press. p. 82. ISBN 0-85361-114-9.
  8. ↑ Loubet, Jean-Louis (1999). L'Industrie automobile: 1905–1971 [The automotive industry: 1905–1971] (in French). Libraire Droz. p. 369. ISBN 2-600-00317-7.
  9. 1 2 3 Reyes, Francis (1996). 100 ans d'illustrations de pub camions [100 years of illustrations of trucks] (in French). ETAI. p. 108. ISBN 2-7268-8197-1.
  10. 1 2 Moneta, Erich H. (1963). Die europäische Automobilindustrie; Unternehmungen und Produktion [The european automotive industry. Companies and production] (in German). A. Lutzeyer. p. 143. OCLC 7752994.
  11. ↑ "Around the world". Foreign Commerce Weekly. Washington DC: US Department of Commerce. 65 (22): 4. 2 May 1961. ISSN 0097-3041.
  12. ↑ "Bird's eye view". Commercial Motor. London: Temple Press. 128 (3305). 17 January 1969. ISSN 0010-3063.
  13. 1 2 Bonin, Hubert (2009). "American Business spreading modernity into France". In Bonin, Hubert; de Goey, Ferry (eds.). American Firms in Europe: Strategy, Identity, Perception and Performance (1880–1980). Librairie Droz. p. 590. ISBN 978-2-600-01259-1.
  14. ↑ Peck, Colin (2013). British and European Trucks of the 1970s. Veloce Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-84584-415-8.
  15. ↑ Georgano, Nick (1983). World Truck Handbook. London: Jane's. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-71060-215-2.
  16. ↑ "Nicht öffentlich: Die Wurzeln des Lkw" [Confidential:The truck origins] (PDF). Schwertransportmagazin (in German). Griesheim: KM Verlag (9/10): 44. 2006. ISSN 1861-1036. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  17. ↑ Cohen, Robert (1980). "La restructuration internationale de l'industrie automobile" [International restructuring of the automotive industry]. Revue d'économie industrielle (in French). Éditions De Boeck Supérieur (11): 24. doi:10.3406/rei.1980.1956. ISSN 1773-0198. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  18. ↑ Hirou, Amandine (22 May 2008). "1968, année explosive" [1968, explosive year]. lexpress.fr (in French). L'Express. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  19. ↑ Lancereau, Alain (May 2014). "Les transports Mousset" [Mousset Transport] (PDF). Charge Utile (in French). Paris: Histoire et Collection (85): 50. ISSN 1240-2346. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  20. 1 2 Bienfait, Jean (1961). "L'industrie française de la machine-outil" [The French machine tool industry]. Revue de géographie de Lyon (in French). Géocarrefour. 36 (1). doi:10.3406/geoca.1961.1700. ISSN 0035-113X.
  21. 1 2 3 Larivière, Jean-Pierre (1968). "Les industries nouvelles: aspects généraux". L'Industrie à Limoges et dans la vallée limousine de la Vienne [Industry at Limoges and at the Vienne's Limousine valley] (in French). Presses Univ Blaise Pascal. pp. 153–155. ISBN 2-84516-052-6.
  22. 1 2 Wilding, A. J. P. (10 November 1967). "Lightweights in the limelight". Commercial Motor. London: Temple Press. 126 (3242): 112–113. ISSN 0010-3063.
  23. 1 2 Wilding, A. J. P. (8 September 1967). "MAN changes through the range at Frankfurt". Commercial Motor. London: Temple Press. 126 (3234): 43. ISSN 0010-3063.
  24. 1 2 "Saviem new vehicles". Commercial Motor. London: IPC Transport Press. 146 (37): 6–7. 30 December 1977. ISSN 0010-3063.
  25. ↑ Montgomerie, Graham (10 January 1975). "First crack at the Club". Commercial Motor. London: IPC Transport Press. 141 (35): 26–28. ISSN 0010-3063.
  26. ↑ Stanier, Richard (13 December 2012). "10 steeling the show. 9: Saviem SG". Commercial Motor. Sutton: Road Transport Media. 218 (5514): 34. ISSN 0010-3063.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Sachez reconnaitre les "cars Renault"" [Recognising "Renault buses"] (PDF) (in French). Car-histo-bus.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 May 2016.
  28. ↑ ""A book full of nostalgia"" (PDF). Busworld Daily Times. Busworld Kortrijk. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 June 2016.
  29. 1 2 "Les utilitaires Renault fêtent 50 ans d'activités à Villiers-Saint-Frédéric" [Renault utility vehicles celebrate 50 years of activity in Villiers-Saint-Frédéric] (in French). Le Parisien. 25 September 2015. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016.
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