Saviem

French manufacturer of trucks and buses

The Société Anonyme de Véhicules Industriels et d'Équipements Mécaniques (sɔsjete anɔnim də veikyl ɛ̃dystʁijɛl e dekipmɑ̃ mekanik), commonly known by the acronym Saviem (savjɛm), was a French manufacturer of trucks and buses/coaches part of the Renault group, headquartered in Suresnes, Île de France. 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 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 (buses and coaches). Saviem formed partnerships with other manufacturers, leading to technology sharing agreements.

At the end of 1946, Renault 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. However, the rapid development and production concentration on that sector made Renault to seek ways to enter into 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 In 1959, Saviem became a whole owned subsidiary of Renault. The early range of the company consisted of small commercial vehicles derived of Renault's existing models (Goélette and Galion), new medium and heavy trucks with Alfa Romeo engines With an aggressive market approach focussed in volume rather than quality, Saviem became the leader by sales in France. In January 1961, Saviem took control of the bus manufacturer Floirat, based at Annonay. 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 area to Blainville sur Orne and Annonay. In 1965, Saviem acquired the French heavy equipment manufacturer Richard Continental in a bid to compete with Caterpillar. From 1963 to 1977, Saviem cooperated with MAN 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 The same year Saviem also acquired Sinpar and completed, together with Fiat and Alfa Romeo, the construction of a joint production facility for engines (Sofim) in Foggia, Italy, at a cost of $250 million. 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.

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 Berliet from the Michelin group. In 1978, Berliet and Saviem were merged to form Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI). In 1977, its last year as a separate company within Renault, Saviem manufactured 35,059 buses/coaches and trucks. were Somua factories. Vénissieux continued producing trucks until 1962. and later auto parts.