Club of four

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A previous cooperation between four European commercial vehicle manufacturers for the joint development of a light to medium-weight truck is called a four-man club . The four-man club was a milestone in the internationalization of the European commercial vehicle markets.

Beginnings

The four truck manufacturers

were faced with the same task at the beginning of the 1970s: They needed a new driver's cab and the associated technology (chassis, brakes, etc.) to build light to medium-weight trucks . The companies mentioned met in November 1971 to carry out the construction together. To this end, a cooperation agreement was signed and the European Truck Development Corporation (ETD) was founded in Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Noisy-le-Roi in France . In the beginning, MAN was also part of the party; however, the company dropped out early and instead worked a little later with VW .

The vehicles with tilting forward control cab, developed jointly by the remaining four partners , came onto the market after they had been presented to the public at the Brussels Motor Show in 1975. Each company paid attention to its own front design below the windshield and used its own engines. Those from Magirus-Deutz were the only ones to be air-cooled . The front axles for all participating manufacturers came from Saviem, the driver's cabs for Volvo, DAF and Magirus-Deutz were manufactured by Magirus-Deutz. Since the borders between the European states in the 1970s were nowhere near as permeable as they are today , working together in the four-man club was a great challenge for those involved. At the same time, the club of four represents a milestone in the internationalization of the European commercial vehicle markets.

The exterior design of the four-person club driver's cab was decisively influenced by the design department at Saviem, which led to a great similarity between the four-person club vehicles and the larger Saviem truck models. Since Saviem was working together with MAN in the field of medium to heavy trucks at the same time, there was a strong similarity between the four-man Club vehicles and the large MAN series of the time (see there ). The Saviem brand was not represented in Germany until the end of the 1970s, and so the somewhat curious situation arose on the German market that this cabin was only known from the MAN range, whereas the four-person club cabins, which were very similar in design, were also known the competition appeared.

In 1979 the Volvo F7 from the four-man club won the " Truck of the Year " award , and in 1983 the four-man club series Renault G260 / 290 did so.

Further development

At DAF

  • DAF 900

  • DAF 1100

  • DAF 1300

DAF was the first of the participating manufacturers to withdraw from the production of the four-club models: after DAF had taken over the British manufacturer Leyland in 1986/87 , the four-club vehicles at DAF were replaced by new models, those from Leyland -Type T45 were derived.

At Magirus-Deutz

  • Four-man club vehicle from Magirus-Deutz

  • Four-man club vehicle from Magirus-Deutz after facelift

  • Four-person club vehicle with IVECO Magirus lettering

  • Four-person club vehicle with IVECO lettering (cabin extended for fire-fighting purposes)

See also main article: Magirus-Deutz MK series

In 1980, the four-man Magirus-Deutz club trucks underwent a facelift in which the radiator grille was given finer ribs. Between 1975 and 1983 Magirus-Deutz was gradually incorporated into Iveco , which was newly founded by Fiat . The lettering Magirus-Deutz on the German four-man club vehicles was therefore initially supplemented by the lettering IVECO and later completely replaced. Production of the four-club models at Iveco was discontinued in 1992, the successor model was the first Iveco Eurocargo .

At Saviem

Saviem, Berliet and Renault

  • Four-man club vehicle from Saviem

  • Fire engine from Berliet

  • Renault four-man club vehicle (type JN 85)

  • Renault four-man club vehicle after its first major facelift

  • Four-man club vehicle from Renault in the last model version (type Midliner M180)

After Renault , the parent company of Saviem, also took over the other French truck brand Berliet , these companies were merged to form Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI for short). After that, the four-man club truck was also available under the Berliet brand . From 1980, the name Renault replaced the two French brands Saviem and Berliet, which each disappeared. Berliet and Saviem and later Renault also produced trucks with an enlarged version of the four-person club cab for long-distance transport (so-called G series ). Renault also had hooded vehicles whose cab was derived from the four-man club cab. After several optical and technical revisions, production at Renault did not end until 2000; The successor was the newly developed Renault Midlum . For military vehicles of the Sherpa series, Renault even today (as of 2014) uses a hooded variant of the four-person club cab. For the military, there was also an open version of the four-man club cab with a fold-down windshield.

  • Renault Hauber with a closed four-person club cab

  • Renault Hauber with an open four-person club cabin

Mack

  • Mack Midliner front handlebars

  • Mack Midliner Hauber

On the North American market, trucks from Renault production with the four-club driver's cab were offered from 1979 by the US brand Mack Trucks as a mid-liner type , both as a front - handlebar ( Mid-Liner MS ) and as a hooded vehicle ( Mid-Liner ) . Liner CS ). From 1979 the Renault Group was involved in the manufacturer Mack Trucks, which in 1990 became a full subsidiary of RVI. The mid-liner , which was also technically and visually revised in the course of its production time, but until the end recognizable as a descendant of the four-man club vehicle , was only replaced in 2001 by the Mack Freedom derived from the Renault Midlum .

At Volvo

  • Volvo four-man club vehicle; Type F6

  • Volvo four-man club vehicle; Type F7

  • Volvo F 7

  • Volvo four-man club vehicle; Type F6

Volvo used the four-person club cab for its F4 and F6 models . In addition, Volvo also added types with the enlarged version of the four- person club cab to its range (models F7 and F6S ). In 1979 the Volvo F7, based on the four-club design, was voted Truck of the Year . Due to Swedish regulations for truck crash safety , Volvo used specially reinforced four-person club cabs for its models. In 1985 , Volvo replaced the four-person club cab of the F7 series with a successor model. The heavily modified four-person club cab of the FL 6 and FL 4 or its successor FL C was continued by Volvo until the introduction of the new FL / FE series in 2006.

Since RVI was taken over by Volvo in 2000, the US brand Mack Trucks, which belongs to RVI, and the division for Renault military vehicles came to Volvo. As a result, four-man club vehicles with the Mack Mid-Liner and the Sherpa military series continue to be manufactured by the Volvo Group.

Special vehicles from other manufacturers

Rhine-Bavaria Agrobil

Companies other than those mentioned above also used the four-person club design and cabin (e.g. for special vehicles). These included the Italian company MAN-Meccanica , which offered an all-wheel-drive truck derived from the four-man club vehicle that was visually reminiscent of the Renault midliner , the heavy-duty tractor manufacturer Terberg, the four-man club vehicle from Volvo rebuilt and the German company Rhein-Bayern , which used the four- person club cab from Magirus-Deutz and IVECO for its Agrobil .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mack Trucks company history 1980−1989 , June 3, 2006
  2. ↑ Volvo Trucks website: Volvo F4 / F6 , June 3, 2006
  3. ↑ Volvo Trucks website: Volvo F7 , June 3, 2006
  4. ↑ Volvo Trucks website: Volvo F6S , June 3, 2006