The Société Anonyme de Véhicules Industriels et d'Équipements Mécaniques (), commonly known by the acronym Saviem (), was a French manufacturer of

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

s and buses/coaches part of the

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

group, headquartered in

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,482 as of 2020. Suresnes borders the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, ...

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

. The company was established in 1955 by merging Renault heavy vehicle operations with Somua and Latil and disappeared in 1978 when was merged with former rival

Berliet Berliet was a French manufacturer of automobiles, buses, trucks and military vehicles among other vehicles based in Vénissieux, outside of Lyon, France. Founded in 1899, and apart from a five-year period from 1944 to 1949 when it was put into 'a ...

to form Renault Véhicules Industriels. The company initially had various factories for vehicle production around France (mainly at the Paris area) which came from its predecessors and Chausson, but it soon centred assembly on Blainville-sur-Orne (trucks) and

Annonay Annonay (; ) is a Communes of France, commune and largest city in the north of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It is the most populous commune in the Ardèche department although it is not the ...

(buses and coaches). Saviem formed partnerships with other manufacturers, leading to technology-sharing agreements.

History

Early years

At the end of 1946,

abandoned the production of heavy trucks in view of its financial troubles, and the company lost the position of France's market leader which it had before

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. However, the rapid development and production concentration in that sector made Renault to seek ways to re-enter the market. In 1950, the Renault's technical chief, Fernand Picard, elaborated a plan to launch a limited range of trucks and buses with a single 105 CV engine, taking advantage of the economies of scale, which proved unsuccessful. In 1953, the strategy was changed and Renault decided to acquire rival manufacturers, starting with Somua and Latil. The company Saviem was formed in October 1955 by the merger of Renault's trucks and buses manufacturing operations with Somua and Latil and both Schneider (owner of Somua) and the Blum family (owners of Latil) had stakes in the new company. Initially, the Saviem name was added alongside the existing badges of the three constituting companies but, from 1957 onwards, Saviem-LRS appeared as the marque's name on the products (the acronym representing the former marques Latil, Renault and Somua), which was simplified to Saviem in 1960. In 1959, Saviem became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Renault. The early product range of the company consisted of small commercial vehicles derived from Renault's existing models ( Goélette and Galion), new medium and heavy trucks with

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

engines and Chausson support for the coach/bus production. With an aggressive market approach focussed on volume rather than on quality, Saviem became the leader by sales in France.

New vehicles and partnerships

During the early 1960s the company introduced a renovated JL heavy and medium duty trucks range with a revised design, new buses and coaches and, in 1964, a S range of medium duty trucks (with Renault and Perkins engines), unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. In January 1961, Saviem took control of the bus manufacturer Floirat, based at

. That year, Saviem signed a cooperation agreement with Henschel-Werke. In 1962, Pierre Dreyfus decided to expand the European partnerships of Saviem and the company received a large capital amount from the French State for recapitalisation and modernisation. It also got the Limoges factory, which manufactured diesel engines. Between 1963 and 1966, Saviem moved most of its production from the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

area to Blainville-sur-Orne and Annonay. In 1967, the Blainville-sur-Orne factory produced 26,000 large goods vehicles and the Annonay factory 1,777 buses/coaches. In 1965, Saviem acquired the French

heavy equipment Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

manufacturer Richard-Continental in a bid to compete with

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

. From 1963 to 1977, Saviem cooperated with

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

of Germany (in 1967 such cooperation was expanded). As part of the agreement, Saviem supplied cabs and in return, MAN supplied axles and engines. The result of this was the launch of the SM (Saviem-MAN) and JM truck ranges in France. Renault also introduced the Super Galion, in partnership with Avia. In 1975 Saviem, together with DAF,

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

and Magirus-Deutz (soon after to become a part of

Iveco Iveco S.p.A., an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company with headquarters in Turin, Italy. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy Commercial vehicle, commercial veh ...

) became co-founder of the Club of Four cooperation to produce medium-sized trucks. At the same time, Saviem signed an agreement with DAC in Romania to provide engines for their new 6135. The same year Saviem also acquired Sinpar and completed, together with

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

and Alfa Romeo, the construction of a joint production facility for engines ( Sofim) in

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

, Italy, at a cost of . In January 1968, the main Saviem factory at Blainville-sur-Orne was the setting for one of the first workers' protests that led to the French May.

Merger with Berliet

As a result of companies' reorganisation and a French State decision of unifying the heavy vehicle production in France, in 1975 Renault also acquired the truck and bus manufacturer

from the

Michelin Michelin ( , ), in full ("General Company of the Michelin Enterprises P.L.S."), is a French multinational tyre manufacturing company based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes '' région'' of France. It is the second largest t ...

group. In 1978, Berliet and Saviem were merged to form Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI). Again, the old marque names were retained for two more years while the model lineups gradually were assimilated, and in April 1980 they were replaced by the name Renault, putting an end to the Saviem badging. In 1977, its last year as a separate company within Renault, Saviem manufactured 35,059 buses/coaches and trucks.

Facilities

Vénissieux and Saint-Ouen

Vénissieux and Saint-Ouen were Somua factories. Vénissieux continued producing trucks until 1962. Saint-Ouen assembled engines until that activity was completely transferred to Limoges in 1964 and later auto parts.

Suresnes and Saint-Cloud

Suresnes and Saint-Cloud were Latil factories. Suresnes slowly ceased production but was kept as the head office and research and development base for the company.

Argenteuil

The Argenteuil factory was a former Chausson bus/coach facility operated by Saviem since 1960. It produced parts for both Saviem and Chausson.

Annonay

The coach/bus factory since 1961, originally part of Floirat and Isobloc.

Blainville-sur-Orne

Built in 1956 on the former Cahen shipyards, Blainville was the only truck factory owned by Saviem from 1966 onwards.

Limoges

In May 1964, the French government donated to Saviem the Limoges factory, a manufacturing facility for aircraft engine parts. Limoges became the main engine assembly location of the company.

Lyon

Saviem-owned Richard-Continental had two factories in Lyon.

Models

Trucks and light commercial vehicles

* Saviem/Renault Galion * Saviem/Renault Goélette * Saviem Super Galion * Saviem Super Goélette * Saviem H * Saviem J *

Saviem JL The Saviem JL was a range of heavy/medium trucks manufactured by the French manufacturer Saviem, a subsidiary of Renault. Characteristics The Saviem JL range was based on the JL range from Somua. The JL was initially powered by engines from Alfa ...

*Saviem JM *Saviem P * Saviem S * Saviem SM * Saviem PX

Buses and coaches

*Saviem R-series *Saviem ZR 20 *Saviem-Floirat ZF 20 *Saviem SC (Saviem-Chausson) 1/2/5 *Saviem SC10 *Saviem S45 *Saviem S53 *Saviem S105 *Saviem E5 *Saviem E7

Military trucks

* Saviem SM8 TRM 4000

References

External links

History of Saviem, Berliet and Renault buses
{{Renault Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of France Truck manufacturers of France Defunct bus manufacturers Suresnes French companies established in 1955