Club of Four

The Club of Four was an alliance of four European truck manufacturers: Saviem, Volvo, DAF, and Magirus-Deutz.

In 1978, Saviem was merged with Berliet to create Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI), but the new company continued as a member of the Club.

Initially there was also the idea of building the models of the four participating brands in one factory, but this was abandoned at an early stage.

Changes made to the final production version included the addition of an extra window behind the doors, beams on the front and side and the repositioning of the direction indicators to the corners of the cab.

[6] Volvo's Club of Four cabs had to be reinforced to meet strict Swedish safety standards, which made their weight less competitive.

The Club of Four cab was also used on the CH230, a series of specially built narrow-bodied, larger engined truck to fit Switzerland's restrictive rules on size and weight.

[7] Volvo's membership of the Club of Four was a major influence on its decision to shift truck manufacturing to Gent, in Belgium (because imports from Volvo's Gothenburg factory to the EEC were, at that time, subject to heavy import duties).

This series was briefly sold as "Saviem" trucks in Britain, but changed to Renault badging in September 1979 as part of a push to establish this brand in the British commercial vehicles' market.

[6] Renault C-series (including CLM, CBB and CBH, and also GBC 180) construction and military vehicles with conventional cabins adapted Club of Four cab as well.

[9] The Iveco-built version was originally sold as the Magirus-Deutz MK range in Germany and certain other markets, this became the Magirus-Iveco in the early 1980s.