Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

that if few units per year outside of europe

 

Of course, these kind of trucks are always build to order in very small numbers.

 

I don't so much think it's the design although I think it's a huge job to do a decent cab.
Especially if you consider safety , ergonomics and aerodynamics.
As these factors are not as critical in these huge specialist trucks I dont think its the design stopping them.
I think the biggest hurdle is the production.
Manufacturing of a cab has so many stages requiring huge investment.
Metal preparation and treatment facility for both pre and post actual production requires a huge facility on its own.
Metal forming requires presses , the tooling for the presses , the manipulators , the welding robots etc.
Now this is only the structure.
All the interior , electrics , glass etc also need to be done for a specific cab.
Way cheaper to buy cabs than try build your own for sure.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_of_Four

 

Yes, those were the old cabs. Today the Renault D-type, Volvo FE and FL, DAF LF, Peterbilt 220, and Kenworth K270 & K370 share the same cab. Iveco apparently uses a different cab, and Mack has no trucks of this type anymore.

 

Cabin is the face of truck

May be one of the most expencive thing is to build production line of cabin and support its evolution.

And as I can see cabin are kept in production for very long time, Volvo FH and VN cabin appeared in 94. They changed interiour, bumpers, hoods, headlamps, but cabin substructure, doors, locks, are still on conveyer.

The new Volvo FH was introduced for E6 models, but old cabin is still available.

DAF makes the same cabin from 90s too. In 2000 they fit new bumper headlamp, grill and later with minor changes they switched to XF 105.

 

Cool nice pictures

 

The Verge reports "Volkswagen buys stake in Navistar, a major US trucking business".

In fact it is Volkswagen Truck & Bus, and that is basically MAN, Scania, VW trucks in Brazil (also part of MAN), and a few others.

The stake starts at 16.6%, but my guess is it will increase. VW was the only major European truck company (except for Iveco) without a US branch, and now they will get it.

 

After checking the Navistar site, I noticed that Navistar also produces military trucks. So does MAN, it has a whole range of special military trucks. Their military truck business is part of Rheinmetal MAN Military Vehicles, and Rheinmetal is one of the world's leading weapon manufacturers.

Now Navistar has the ATX-8 truck which is basically a modified Czech Tatra military truck, and Tatra is partly owned by DAF (20% or so), and DAF is owned by Paccar.

Funny world.

 

I knew about MAN, but when did VW get a stake in Scania?