Suomen Autoteollisuus

Oy Sisu Auto Ab

Type	osakeyhtiö
Industry	automotive
Predecessor	Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri and Autokoritehdas
Founded	Helsinki, Finland (April 1, 1931 (1931-04-01))
Founder	Karl Arthur Nordgrén Emil Anton Winckelmann Lars Wilhelm Åberg
Headquarters	Raseborg, Finland
Key people	Tor Nessling Erik Gillberg Timo Korhonen
Products	on- and off-road trucks; military trucks
Services	heavy vehicle application engineering
Revenue	€26.6 million (2015)
Net income	€-0.7 million (2015)
Owner	Timo Korhonen
Number of employees	66 (2015)
Subsidiaries	Sisu Auto Trucks Oy Sisu Defence Oy Sisu Engineering Oy
Website	sisuauto.com

Sisu Auto is a truck manufacturer based in Raseborg, Finland. Its name comes from the Finnish word sisu meaning guts, grit and determination.

Sisu Auto has a subsidiary company, "Sisu Defence", producing high mobility tactical vehicles for military use.

The currently available Sisu Polar variants are with 3, 4 or 5 axles in various layouts. The applications are:

The company was established on 1 April 1931 as Oy Suomen Autoteollisuus Ab (SAT). It originated from two neighbouring Helsinki-based automobile coach builders Autokoritehdas and Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri, both of which had fallen into financial troubles by the beginning of the 1930s. The banks, which were funding both companies, pressed them to put together their operations under one company. The founders were Emil Anton Winckelmann, Lars Wilhelm Åberg and Karl Arthur Nordgren. In the first company meeting the company general manager was selected John Hellsten and the technical manager was appointed Tor Nessling.

At first SAT continued the coachbuilding business which it had inherited from its predecessors, but also put into practice the plan of building own vehicles, which was evolved already earlier, when Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri had ordered few Volvo chassis for outfitting. These chassis formed the basis for the first pre-series of vehicles.

As soon as the business was started, SAT started to seek a good brand for its products. At early summer 1932 the company set up a name competition which was advertised on the main newspapers of Helsinki. The competition got a great attention and some 3000-4000 suggestions were received. The jury met up in Hotel Kämp in Helsinki to select the winner in the middle of June 1932. Three candidates were selected: Sisu ("guts; stamina; stubbornness, determination"), Karhu ("bear") and Haukka ("hawk"). Eventually, Sisu became selected. As many people had suggested the successful name, the winner of the 1,000 marks' price was selected by lottery - he was young Veikko Arohonka, actually signed up by his older brother Eino, who later became writer.