DAF
DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of the American company Paccar which also owns the North American truck brands Kenworth and Peterbilt. Originally the acronym DAF stood for van Doorne’s Aanhangwagen Fabriek. Its headquarters and main factory are both in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF brand are designed and built by Leyland Trucks at its Leyland plant in the United Kingdom.
Iveco
Iveco – officially IVECO – was created on 1 January 1975 through the merger of three Italian brands: FIAT Veicoli Industriali, OM, and Lancia Veicoli Speciali; as well as the French brand Unic and the German Magirus-Deutz. Iveco was a part of the CNH Industrial corporation until spun off on 1 January 2022.
MAN
MAN Truck & Bus SE (formerly MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG) is headquartered in Munich, Germany and today a subsidiary of Traton SE which also owns Scania and the American truck brand International. The Traton group is in turn majority-owned by Volkswagen AG.
Mercedes
Daimler Trucks, which is the official name of the company which today produces the trucks bearing the Mercedes brand, has been a separate company from the one making the Mercedes cars since December 2021 when the old Daimler company was split into two – the cars stayed in the old company which was renamed to Mercedes-Benz while the production of trucks and buses was put into a new company named Daimler Trucks.
Renault
Renault Trucks is a French commercial truck manufacturer with corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it has been a subsidiary of Volvo AB since 2001.
From its beginnings in 1978 to 2002, the company was called Renault Véhicules Industriels (Renault Industrial Vehicles). Until 2002, Renault Véhicules Industriels also manufactured buses.
Scania
Scania was founded in Södertälje, Sweden and have made trucks and lorries since the early days of motor cars. During different periods it traded as Scania-Vabis and SAAB-Scania. Today Scania is part of the Traton group, which also owns MAN and the American brand International.
Volvo
Volvo was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1927 as a subsidiary of SKF AB, who wanted to broaden and promote their successful ball-bearing production. The brand name comes from the latin for “I move”.
Volvo spun off their car manufacturing in the 1990s and today the trucks, buses and other heavy machinery are produced by Volvo AB, usually called Volvo Group, which is now an entirely separate company from Volvo Cars who makes the cars.
