Effective this Sunday, Volvo Trucks North America and Mack Trucks will be merged by their common parent, Sweden’s Volvo Group, into a single business unit to be called North American Trucks (NAT), according to various published reports.
The new organization will be led by Dennis Slagle, currently president of Mack Trucks. Per Carlsson, currently president of Volvo Trucks North America, will be COO.
It was also reported that the Volvo Powertrain and Volvo 3P business units in North America will become more closely linked to the new organization via dual reporting of their chiefs to Slagle and their respective global leadership. In addition, it was pointed out that NAT will still operate two separate sales organizations as it will maintain the two distinct truck brands— Mack and Volvo.
The move is being characterized as an internal cost-cutting measure. The company had not replied to FleetOwner’s request for direct comment on the move as of this time.
“To achieve sustainable profitability at acceptable levels, we are now moving forward with the integration of our North American truck business,” said Volvo Group CEO Leif Johansson in a published statement. “The new organization will speed decision-making and significantly improve the operational steering of sales and products, while allowing us to maintain our focus on global product platforms.”
