Club of Four

The Club of Four was an alliance of four European truck manufacturers: Saviem, Volvo, DAF, and Magirus-Deutz.

Officially called the Société Européenne de Travaux et de Développement (ETD), the team was based in Paris. Founded to develop a shared range of light trucks, its main success was a shared cab design. Cabs can be one of the most expensive parts of a truck to design and build; the alliance allowed one cab design to be shared among four different truck manufacturers, allowing economies of scale. In 1978, Saviem was merged with Berliet to create Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI), but the new company continued as a member of the Club. Magirus-Deutz became part of Iveco.

The cab was used on a wide range of different trucks. It was even used on Mack trucks in the USA. It remained in production for almost a quarter of a century. Although initially intended for medium trucks it was also used on light trucks, even the 6-tonne Magirus 90M6FK.

At first, Volvo used the cab most; adopting it across the F4 (F406/F407/F408) and F6 (F609/F610/F611/F612/F613/F614) ranges of trucks. The first to be sold in the UK was the F7 range of trucks, which replaced Volvo's old F86. These Club of Four cabs continued until 1985-1986 by which time the Volvo FL was being produced with new Volvo cabs, although the new FL6 was superficially similar to the Club of Four.

Volvo's Club of Four cabs had to be reinforced to meet strict Swedish safety standards, which made their weight less competitive. The Club of Four cab was also used on the CH230, a series of specially built narrow-bodied, larger engined truck to fit Switzerland's restrictive rules on size and weight. The first CH230 used the Club of Four cab atop the F89 chassis, with the narrower F86 front axle and the N10 rear axle. It was introduced in 1977. In 1980 the next iteration appeared, now using the F7 cab atop the F10/F12's chassis. It continued in production until 1986, when it was replaced by the FS10.

Volvo's membership of the Club of Four was a major influence on its decision to shift truck manufacturing to Gent, in Belgium (because imports from Volvo's Gothenburg factory to the EEC were, at that time, subject to heavy import duties).

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