Renault Trucks Defense

Renault Trucks SAS

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1978 (as a merger between Saviem and Berliet)
Headquarters	Saint-Priest, France
Key people	Bruno Blin (President)
Products	Trucks, Military vehicles
Revenue	€4.35 billion (2014)
Number of employees	9,500
Parent	Volvo Group
Website	www.renault-trucks.com

Renault Trucks is a French commercial truck and military vehicle manufacturer with corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it has been owned by the Volvo Group since 2001.

From its beginnings in 1978 to 2002, the company was called Renault Véhicules Industriels (English: Renault Industrial Vehicles), from 1992 on officially written as Renault V. I.. Until 1999, Renault Véhicules Industriels also manufactured buses.

In 1956, the company Saviem was formed as a subsidiary of Renault from the combination of Renault's own truck and bus production with the manufacturers 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 manufacturer Berliet from Citroën (at that time a part of the Michelin corporation). 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.

In 1971, Saviem became a member of the Euro Truck Development Group or 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. Since 1975 the truck models resulting from this cooperation were built by Saviem and later Renault, even until 2001. They were also sold on the North American market as the Mack Mid-Liner or Manager.

In 1978, PSA Group had bought Chrysler's European operations. Included in the deal were commercial vehicle operations in the UK 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 which originally carried the brand names Karrier and Commer. Some of the models built there were continued in production for several years by RVI in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, who also kept the Dodge brand name for these models, albeit in combination with the Renault badge. In 1988 the company was subject to a Fire Brigades Union inquirey due to 8 Dodge fire engines involved in crashes. Until 1992 the UK division was known as Renault Truck Industries, after which it then took the international Renault V.I. name.