Traton SE, known as the Traton Group (formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG), is a subsidiary of the
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...
and one of the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, with its
MAN
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...
,
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conte ...
,
Navistar
Navistar, Inc is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus br ...
, and
Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus
Volkswagen Truck & Bus Indústria e Comércio de Veículos Ltda. (formerly known as Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus), is a Brazilian commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Resende, Brazil and a subsidiary of Traton. It manufactures hea ...
brands. The company also has digital services branded as RIO. In 2020, the group sold around 190,200 vehicles.
[ The range of products includes light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks, as well as vans and buses. As of December 31, 2020, Traton employed around 82,600 people in its commercial vehicle brands.][
]
History
In 1979, Volkswagen AG held a 67% share in Chrysler
Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...
Motors do Brasil Ltda., a Brazilian commercial vehicle manufacturer. In 1980, Volkswagen acquired the remaining shares in Chrysler, renamed the company Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus Ltda., and assigned it to the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles division.
In 2000 Volkswagen contributed 3 billion German marks
The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...
to Swedish Scania AB
Scania AB is a major Swedish manufacturer headquartered in Södertälje, focusing on commercial vehicles—specifically heavy lorries, trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for heavy vehicles as well as marine and general indus ...
, controlling 34% of the voting rights and holding 18.7% of the share capital. In 2006, MAN SE
MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Ame ...
presented Volkswagen and the other Scania shareholders with a takeover offer in the amount of 9.6 billion euros. A few days later, Volkswagen rejected the offer, and broached the subject of a potential truck alliance for the first time.
In October 2006, Volkswagen AG announced that it had acquired 15% of MAN SE, but did not intend to take over. On October 12, 2006, MAN SE increased its takeover bid to Scania by 400 million euros, bringing it to a total of 10 billion euros. At the same time, it bought additional shares, giving it control of about 14% of Scania AB. After the partners also rejected the revised offer, MAN withdrew the offer in January 2007, and began talks about a possible alliance between the three companies. To further consolidate this alliance, Volkswagen acquired another 14.9% of MAN. Shortly afterwards, Volkswagen announced that it now held 35.3% of the Scania voting rights. Volkswagen acquired a further 30.62% of the voting rights from the Swedish Investor AB
Investor AB is a Swedish investment and ''de facto'' conglomerate holding company. It was founded in 1916 and is still controlled by the Wallenberg family through their Foundation Asset Management company FAM. The company owns a controlling st ...
and the Wallenberg foundations in March 2008. Volkswagen had already controlled this share in the past by means of an agreement with the existing shareholders.
In December 2008, Volkswagen AG sold the Brazilian subsidiary Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus Ltda. to MAN SE for 1.2 billion euros. The company was incorporated into MAN Latin America Ltda. under a new name, selling the majority of its heavy trucks and buses under the Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus brand, alongside MAN Truck and Bus products. Volkswagen acquired further MAN SE shares at the beginning of May 2011 and was obliged to submit a takeover offer, which it did at the end of the same month. Volkswagen held the majority of voting rights at 55.9% at the end of the acceptance period. As part of further share purchases, Volkswagen announced voting rights of 75.03% on June 6, 2012. Due to the resulting statutory blocking minority of 25%, Volkswagen was given sole control of MAN SE. On April 16, 2013, Volkswagen AG applied for “Truck & Bus GmbH” to be entered into the commercial register of the city of Wolfsburg. On forming this new subsidiary, Volkswagen transferred the shares it held in MAN SE, with which Truck & Bus GmbH signed a control and profit transfer agreement on June 6, 2013. Volkswagen AG held more than 89% of the Scania AB voting rights as a result of the shares in Scania held by its subsidiary, MAN.
In February 2014, Volkswagen issued a voluntary public takeover bid to the remaining shareholders of Scania. At the end of the acceptance period in June 2014, Volkswagen held 99.57% of the voting rights. Following the squeeze-out under Swedish law, Volkswagen AG became the holder of 82.63% of the voting rights directly and another 17.37% via MAN SE.
At the beginning of July 2015, the shareholders' meeting of Truck & Bus GmbH decided to rename it Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH, a company based in Braunschweig. Andreas Renschler
Andreas Renschler (born 29 March 1958, in Stuttgart) is a German engineering manager. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of TRATON SE and member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG. Furthermore he is chairman of the Latin America Com ...
, at that time responsible for the commercial vehicles on the board of management of Volkswagen AG, became CEO. Martin Winterkorn
Martin Winterkorn (born 24 May 1947) is a German former business executive who was chairman of the board of management (CEO, ''Vorstandsvorsitzender'' in German) of Volkswagen AG, the parent company of the Volkswagen Group, chairman of the supe ...
was appointed as chairman of the supervisory board. The shares Volkswagen held in Scania were transferred to the renamed holding company. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles remained part of Volkswagen AG.
In 2016, Volkswagen Truck & Bus acquired a 16.6% stake in U.S. commercial vehicle maker Navistar International Corporation
Navistar, Inc is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus br ...
. Both companies entered into a strategic technology and supply cooperation initiative and established a purchasing joint venture.
On June 20, 2018, Volkswagen Truck & Bus was announced as being renamed Traton, effective from the third quarter of 2018.
On June 26, 2018, Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH was transformed into a German stock corporation (''Aktiengesellschaft
(; abbreviated AG, ) is a German word for a corporation limited by Share (finance), share ownership (i.e. one which is owned by its shareholders) whose shares may be traded on a stock market. The term is used in Germany, Austria, Switzerland (wh ...
''), becoming Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG.
In August 2018, Volkswagen Truck & Bus was renamed Traton AG. The company used this new name at the IAA 2018 press conference with the tagline "Transforming Transportation". Followed by the transformation into a European company (''Societas Europaea
A ''societas Europaea'' (, ; "European society" or "company"; plural: ; abbr. SE) is a public company registered in accordance with the corporate law of the European Union (EU), introduced in 2004 with the Council Regulation on the Statute f ...
'' or SE) in December 2018, the company was renamed Traton SE. The name stands for TRAnsformation, TRAnsportation, TRAdition, TONnage and always “ON”.
On June 28, 2019, Traton was listed at the Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
and Stockholm stock exchange
Nasdaq Stockholm, formerly known as the Stockholm Stock Exchange ( sv, Stockholmsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Frihamnen, Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863, it has become the primary securities exchange of the Nordic countries. As o ...
. The placement price for the dual listing was set at 27.00 euros per share. About 57,500,000 ordinary bearer shares
A bearer instrument is a document that entitles the holder of the document to rights of ownership or title (property), title to the underlying property, such as share (finance), shares or Bond (finance), bonds. Unlike normal registered instruments, ...
from Volkswagen AG's holdings were placed with investors, 11.5% of Traton's share capital. Volkswagen raised 1.55 billion euros.
In 2018, Volkswagen Truck & Bus and Hino Motors
Hino Motors, Ltd., commonly known as Hino, is a Japanese manufacturer of commercial vehicles and diesel engines (including those for trucks, buses and other vehicles) headquartered in Hino, Tokyo. The company was established in 1942 as a corpora ...
announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership A strategic partnership (also see strategic alliance) is a relationship between two commercial enterprises, usually formalized by one or more business contracts. A strategic partnership will usually fall short of a legal partnership entity, agency, ...
for activities including procurement, technologies, and logistics. In November 2019, they established a procurement joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
called Hino and Traton Global Procurement, with 51% of it owned by Traton and 49% by Hino.
On January 30, 2020, Traton announced a proposal to purchase all outstanding shares in Navistar.
In February 2020, Traton announced that it intended to absorb MAN SE
MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Ame ...
by merging to simplify Traton's overall structure. As a result of the merger, MAN Truck & Bus SE, Scania AB, and Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus were to become wholly owned direct subsidiaries of Traton. The merging of the MAN company into Traton was completed in August 2021.
In September 2020, Traton formed a partnership with TuSimple, a self-driving trucking technology company, to co-develop level-4 autonomous trucks by equipping Traton's Scania trucks with automated vehicle technology. As part of this new partnership, Traton has invested in TuSimple.
On July 1, 2021, Traton successfully completed its takeover of Navistar.
On May 18, 2022, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus announced it was changing its corporate name to Volkswagen Truck and Bus, one of its parent's former names.
Corporate strategy
According to the company, teams of MAN and Scania engineers will jointly develop the core components of the powertrain. The management of the cross-brand project groups will be taken over by one of the two companies. Scania is responsible for large engines with 13-liter capacity, whereas MAN is in charge of smaller units with 5- to 9-liter engines. The breakdown for exhaust systems and gearboxes is similar.
Corporate structure
Integration into the Volkswagen Group
Traton forms the Commercial Vehicles Business Area of the Volkswagen Group, which owns a 89.7% majority shareholding. The Commercial Vehicles Business Area formerly included the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWCV; german: Volkswagen Nutzfahrzeuge , abbreviated ''VWN'' ) is a German brand, marque of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany. Originall ...
brand, but following changes in the management structure of the Volkswagen Group, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand was reallocated to the Passenger Cars Business Area from 1 January 2019.
Scania AB, MAN Truck & Bus SE, Volkswagen Truck & Bus and Navistar International Corporation are all wholly owned subsidiaries of Traton, which also holds 25% + 1 share of Sinotruk Sinotruk may refer to:
*China National Heavy Duty Truck Group: or Sinotruk Group, a state-owned truck manufacturing enterprise in China
*Sinotruk (Hong Kong)
Sinotruk (Hong Kong) Limited is a Hong Kong truck manufacturer incorporated in 2007. The ...
.
Brands
MAN Truck & Bus
MAN Truck & Bus
MAN Truck & Bus SE (formerly MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG, ) is a subsidiary of Traton, and one of the leading international providers of commercial vehicles. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, MAN Truck & Bus produces vans in the range from 3.0 to 5.5 t ...
has medium- and heavy-duty trucks for long-haul and distribution transport, as well as for construction sites and special applications. In addition to urban, intercity, and touring coaches of the MAN and Neoplan
Neoplan Bus GmbH is a German automotive company that manufactures buses, trolleybuses and coaches. It is a subsidiary of MAN Truck & Bus SE.
History Foundations
The company was founded by Gottlob Auwärter in Stuttgart in 1935, and ma ...
brands, the TGE light transporter completes the range of models on offer. In 2020, MAN sold 81,673 vehicles, including 76,333 trucks and 5,340 buses. In 2020, sales revenue of the MAN Truck & Bus operating unit was 9.659 billion euros.[
]
Scania
Scania AB
Scania AB is a major Swedish manufacturer headquartered in Södertälje, focusing on commercial vehicles—specifically heavy lorries, trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for heavy vehicles as well as marine and general indus ...
makes trucks for long-distance and distribution traffic, construction sites, and special areas, including autonomous trucks
A self-driving truck, also known as an autonomous truck, or robo-truck is an application of self-driving car designed to transport cargo without requiring no human driver. Many companies are testing self-driving semi trucks.
In September 2022, ' ...
for enclosed areas. City and intercity buses, and coaches complete the product portfolio. In 2020, the brand sold 72,085 vehicles – 66,899 trucks and 5,186 buses.[
]
Volkswagen Truck & Bus
Volkswagen Truck & Bus
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
specializes in developing markets. It has light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks for long-distance and distribution transport, construction sites, and special areas. City and intercity buses and coaches are also available. In 2020, it sold a total of 36,974 vehicles.[
]
Navistar
Navistar
Navistar, Inc is an American holding company created in 1986 as the successor to International Harvester. Navistar operates as the owner of International-branded trucks and diesel engines. The company also produces buses under the IC Bus br ...
produces heavy trucks under the International brand, and buses under the IC Bus
IC Bus (originally IC Corporation) is an American bus manufacturer. Headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, IC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International. Established in 2002 by Navistar through the reorganization of subsidiary manufact ...
brand. On July 1, 2021, Navistar became a wholly owned subsidiary of Traton SE, and therefore part of the Traton Group.
RIO
RIO is the digital services brand of Traton.
References
External links
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{{Authority control, state=expanded
Volkswagen Group
Companies based in Bavaria
Bus manufacturers of Germany
Truck manufacturers of Germany
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2013
German companies established in 2013
2019 initial public offerings
Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange