Volvo 'moves alone' on cab
Page 12
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• After the collapse of merger talks between Volvo and Renault any remaining jointproduct development projects between the two truck makers looks set to be minimal. At the RAI Show this week Volvo Truck Corporation boss Sten Langenius reported: "We will try and co-operate on a product basis in the future where both of us can have a "win-win situation—but certainly the co-operation will be different."
Until last year Renault and Volvo were involved in a joint middleweight cab and medium range engine project. It now looks increasingly likely that Volvo will develop its own midrange replacements On the likely timescale of a replacement cab for Volvo's FL10/7 and FL6 models Langenius would only say, "Our philosophy has always been new developments in time for when they're needed."
While insisting that Volvo "has never been stronger in its complete product range", he hinted that the arrival of new models could coincide with the Euro-2 deadline in October 1996 "if the market needs them, but I don't think that they'll be needed by the market."
Volvo's top engineers have acknowledged that the FH cab "Is the beginning of a family concept and could be developed from them. They could be part of a modular family." If they are, the most obvious next-step is to develop a low-height version to replace the existing Forward Low (FL) cabin used on the FL10 and FL7. Whether a narrow version of the FH cab could used on a l7-tonne rigid remains to be seen.