The 3 Semi Truck Brands Owned By Volvo

Most Jalopnik fans cognize Volvo arsenic nan marque down RADwood-era classics for illustration this 1991 Volvo 240 DL, or, much recently, EVs ranging from nan low-cost, high-quality 2026 EX30 to nan flagship EX90 that puts safety and luxury astatine nan forefront of nan ownership experience. And, arsenic our Erin Marquis reported erstwhile learning that anyone tin thrust Volvo's VNL, nan marque besides makes semi trucks. Well, it's not precisely nan aforesaid brand.

The Volvo Group, headquartered successful Gothenburg, Sweden, owns the Volvo semi marque — arsenic good arsenic Renault Trucks and Mack Trucks — and it's wholly different from nan Volvo marque trading rider cars and SUVs. Of course, that wasn't ever nan case. Volvo introduced its first bid accumulation car, nan Volvo ÖV4, successful 1927, and nan company's first truck, nan LV Series 1 came nan pursuing year. The Volvo Group Volvo operated some rider car and motortruck operations from nan precocious 1920s up until 1999, erstwhile it sold nan car business to Ford. The Blue Oval squad past bundled nan marque into its Premier Auto Group for a number of years earlier trading nan Volvo Car Corp. to its existent owner, nan Chinese institution Zhejiang Geely, successful 2010.

Today, Volvo Trucks remains a halfway portion of nan Volvo Group on pinch not only Mack and Renault Trucks, but a number of different transportation-adjacent brands. Those brands include Volvo Penta for marine/industrial powerplants, Rokbak for articulated construction-style haulers, Nova Bus for buses and akin vehicles, and Prevost for North American bus/motorhome customers.

That original 1928 Series 1 was overmuch much for illustration a modern flatbed-style motortruck than a semi. Yet, pinch its 28-horsepower four-cylinder motor bully for a payload standing of much than 3,300 pounds (1,500 kilograms), and a creation tailored to Sweden's often harsh upwind conditions and rugged early roads, nan Series 1 sewage nan business disconnected to a speedy start. In fact, request was truthful precocious that nan original accumulation tally of 500 trucks had to beryllium complemented by a 2nd batch successful short order. 

As acold arsenic modern semis go, these are considered Class 8 trucks successful nan U.S., and nan first Volvo motortruck to suffice for that classification was nan 1955 Volvo Titan. Volvo's HD motortruck efforts would besides spot a associated task pinch General Motors that lasted from astir 1986 to 1997.

The 2026 Volvo motortruck lineup includes models that tally connected diesel, gas, electricity, and CNG, pinch nan FH16 starring nan way. Featuring a 17-liter inline six-cylinder motor making up to 780 horsepower and much than 2,800 pound-feet of torque (3,800 Nm), nan FH16 showed its spot by pulling what's presently nan biggest load a semi motortruck tin tow: At an accumulation successful 2021, an FH16 pinch crawler gears pulled much than 826 tons. In nan existent world, nan FH16 is rated to propulsion adjacent to 360 tons, which is still not excessively shabby since it useful retired to astir 720,000 pounds –- possibly nan biggest load a semi motortruck tin tow. For comparison, nan Ford F-150 sets nan towing benchmark for light-duty full-size trucks astatine 13,500 pounds.

Volvo finalized its ownership of Mack Trucks successful 2001 — but it took benignant of an indirect way to ownership. What happened was that Renault Véhicules Industriels, nan business section of Renault nan automaker, began buying up Mack banal successful nan precocious 1970s and yet took complete complete ownership successful 1990. Approximately a decade later, Volvo bought RVI and, pinch it, nan Mack brand.

It nary uncertainty seemed for illustration a bully measurement to drawback a firmer foothold successful nan U.S. motortruck marketplace astatine nan time. Three brothers — John M., Augustus F., and William C. Mack — sewage Mack Trucks disconnected nan crushed successful 1900 by building nan brand's first engine-powered vehicle, which was really a bus, not a truck. (Mack had built horse-drawn carriages successful nan 19th century.) The institution extended its merchandise scope to trains successful 1905, manufacturing some locomotives and obstruction cars, and it yet produced its first motortruck successful 1907. Leveraging Mack's beginnings, its early transportation vehicles, driven by 50-horsepower motors, were built connected repurposed autobus chassis.

The Mack bulldog was calved from nan brand's work successful World War I, erstwhile it earned that canine nickname from British soldiers, and nan sanction of nan institution officially became Mack Trucks successful 1922. It had been called nan Mack Brothers Co. up until that point. Unfortunately, and contempt nan motorboat of its all-new Mack Pioneer semi successful 2025, nan marque has tally into a fewer bumps successful nan roadworthy nether nan Trump administration: Mack announced important layoffs past outpouring and says tariffs are to blame.

Remember backmost erstwhile we looked astatine every marque wrong nan Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance? Notably absent was Renault's commercialized motortruck section — Renault Véhicules Industriels — which had been sold to nan Volvo Group correct astir nan aforesaid play nan Alliance was formed: That happened successful 1999, while nan waste of Renault's motortruck business to Volvo was finalized successful 2001.

Before then, however, Renault Trucks would beryllium progressive successful plentifulness of mergers connected its own. The communicative originates successful 1899 erstwhile nan brothers Louis, Marcel, and Fernand Renault formed Renault Frères to attraction connected building cars. The institution besides built craft engines and weapon carriages to support France's subject efforts during World War I, and it moreover developed and built an early modern tank. A slowing post-war system put Renault — and galore different conveyance makers — into financial difficulties that were mostly solved complete nan years by mergers and acquisitions.

By 1978, nan French motortruck marketplace was fundamentally divided betwixt SAVIEM, a group that included Renault trucks, and Berliet, different long-running French motortruck marque that had grown by buying up smaller companies. When nan 2 groups themselves merged that year, it was nether nan banner of Renault Véhicules Industriels, which, arsenic mentioned, was bought by nan Volvo Group successful 2001 and renamed Renault Trucks successful 2002.

Renault keeps trucking into nan future, too. Along pinch a robust portfolio of diesel trucks, Renault is 1 of galore brands moving to electrify nan trucking industry. The institution precocious introduced nan Renault E-Tech T pinch a scope of much than 370 miles.