The History of Scania

Scania is the world-famous Swedish brand - the world leader in trucks, comfortable buses and the most economical industrial and marine diesel engines. For more than 100 years Scania products have been synonymous with efficiency, reliability and durability. Here's how one of the most successful industrial companies of our time came into being - and what the secret of the Swedish Legend is. Try to guess how the history of the largest manufacturer of trucks, buses and industrial engines started. Very simply - with bicycles and train wagons!

The history of the worldwide concern SCANIA CV AB started over 120 years ago with the formation and subsequent merger of two Swedish competitors Scania and Vabis.

The first Vabis 12HKR Lastbilar 1.5 tonne truck, 1902. In 1891 in Södertelje, Sweden, a company for the production of railway wagons, Vagnfabriks Aktie-Bolaget i Södertelge, or Vabis for short, was formed. Working in the oversaturated wagon market, the company's management began to consider new areas of development. In 1897, designer Gustav Ericsson created a prototype of the first Swedish Vabis A-car. In 1898, the company began serial production of passenger cars, using a spark ignition system for fuel ignition for the first time (before that, ineffective incandescent tubes had been used).

In 1900 the company founds its own division, Maskinfabriks-Aktiebolaget Scania (Skåne Machine Works Company) in southern Sweden, in the largest city in the Skåne region, the industrial center of Malmö - Scania in short. Frederik Petersen, a former sales agent for English bicycles, stands at the helm. The division also started out as a bicycle manufacturer. It is no coincidence that the first Scania emblem is based on the crank of the pedal bicycle, in the center of which is a red griffin head, crowned with a gold crown. The griffin was taken from the coat of arms of the province of Skåne, proudly emphasizing the geographical affiliation of the company.

In 1901 several motorcycles and passenger cars were assembled from French assembly kits in a factory for the assembly of licensed bicycles, and by the end of the year the first original car under the Scania brand, a small passenger car with a French engine, was created.

In 1902, just two years after the company was founded, the first 1.5-ton truck was produced in a single copy at the Scania plant. No detailed information about its development had survived. It is known only that the engineer Anton Svensson and designer Rheingold Torssin decided to place a 12 hp 2-cylinder water-cooled gasoline engine under the driver's seat, so the production started with innovation.

Six basic lines of turbocharged and intercooled engines were used as power units. These included the upgraded 6-cylinder DSC9 (220-310 hp), the new 24-valveDC11 (340-380 hp) released in 1998, the 6-cylinder DSC12 (360-420 hp) and the improved DSC14 V8 (460-530 hp). In 2000, a new 15.6-liter DC16 V8 diesel engine with up to 580 horsepower was also introduced. Other notable innovations in the late '90s included Opticruise, a programmable manual transmission control system for optimum performance, minimized fuel consumption and exhaust emissions (Euro-3), and disc brakes.

In the late '90s the company produced a series of 12-metre Omni buses with a modular body design and a new front mask, dubbed the 'smiling' one. It soon became the fashion for this original design style.

In 2000 Scania, having six plants in Sweden and eight overseas assembly plants, produced 100,000th truck. Eleven factories in five countries were involved in the production of parts and components and the assembly of this truck. Do not forget to use Scania VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.