The Volkswagen Group now seems to shift up. First former Scania CEO Leif Östling was sent home, and now Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn pointed the direction in Svenska Dagbladet.
He says that for different juristic reasons the whole deal had to be worked out before he could explain more. Now, with ex Dailmer CEO Andreas Renschler in charge things can speed up with the plans of VW for Scania and MAN. These brands are going to share a lot more than just a gearbox or a rear axle, he says. Just like all the Volkswagen brands share platforms the same will hapen to Scania and MAN. So in the future also cabs and even engines, electronics and frames will be shared.
Off course VW will do everything to keep the two brands alive, but let’s hope they understand what that realy means. Scania is more than a truckbrand and I just hope the Germans will understand that.
For the next generation of Scania I don’t think the MAN deal is going to make a difference. Probably the decisions that are made now are going to effect upcomming generations that we will see in a few years.
Here you see a prototype of the new Scania series that we espect to be launched at the end of 2015.