lairnler-Benz and Iveco hare Swiss know-how
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by Bill Godwin
-IE MAJOR reorganisation of le Swiss commercial vehicle dustry, in which Daimler-Benz 3S played an important part nce its acquisition last year of a ) per cent holding in Saurer, as now been taken a step irther through the formation of new company, designed to cordinate the activities both of aurer and FBW.
The announcement, last ionth, of the creation of NAW, gutzfahrzeuggesellschaft ,rbon & Wetzikon), underlines le acceleration of the slimmingown process which, ultimately, isposes of the last vestiges of a ational vehicle industry in ;witzerland.
The new commercial vehicle ompany, NAW, takes over the !ngineering and production acilities of Saurer and FBW, vith Saurer holding a 45 per ;ent share, Daimler-Benz 40 per :ant and the remaining holding s in the hands of FBW in which )aimler-Benz had acquired a 49 )er cent share as early as 1980.
While some Swiss politicians iee the participation of the 3erman maker as a new )pportunity — or last chance — or Saurer, which for the past 'lye years has sold every truck at heavy loss, the facts do not )ear this out.
New Saurers and FBWs will .3arry little more than the badge :continued use of the old and famous names is safeguarded) Nhich is actually produced in Switzerland.
By hiving off the commercial vehicle sector from other activities of the Saurer engineering group and amalgamating this with the second Swiss producer, FBW, German dominance of the small, but high-value, Swiss hgv market is virtually assured for the future.
By the beginning of 1984 the only "genuine" Saurer vehicles will be those which are being supplied under a 1982 contract to the Swiss armed forces. This order calls for 1,200 highmobility vehicles, of 4x4 and 6x6 configuration, at a cost of almost S.Fors. 400,000 (El 24,000) each at the time the order was placed.
In the light of the reorganisation there is also much speculation whether selection of the "new generation" light all-terrain vehicle for the Swiss army will ultimately be pre-empted by the powerful association with the German maker.
The field of vehicles still under assessment has now been narrowed down to the LandRover and the Daimler-Benz GWagen. Steyr-Daimler-Puch, from which the G-Wagen is sourced for Switzerland, is already reported to have agreed to assembly of the vehicle by the NAW group.
Plans for the rationalisation of vehicle assembly at Arbon and Wetzikon envisage that only those models_are to be included which cannot be sourced from Daimler-Benz volume production. This applies both to trucks and psv, with the latter to be built or assembled at Wetzikon (FBW).
Capacity at both plants is also to be allocated to special vehicle orders which cannot conveniently be carried out on the main lines of Daimler-Benz domestic plants.
Already the engineering collaboration between the German and Swiss vehicle builders has resulted in a purpose-made Mercedes-Benz eight-wheeler. It is believed that derivatives of this model are now being prepared for other European countries in which better use can be made of this wheel configuration than in Switzerland, where a 28-tonnes limit applies.
The labour force is to be reduced to around 350 although employment remains secure for another 300 mechanical and service personnel working in Saurer service points throughout Switzerland.
135 Members of the influential Saurer research and development organisation — which has made a considerable contribution to the technology and efficiency of diesel engines built by other European makers — have been transferred to a separate company — Dereco (Diesel Engine Research and Engineering Co), which has been set up jointly with Iveco, one of the major users of the original Saurer test and development facilities.
Saurer and lveco have equal holdings of 40 per cent each in Dereco while the remaining share is held by a Fiat-associated bank, based in Lugano.