Mitsubishi belongs to Mercedes, Nissan to Isuzu, Renault to Volvo, the truck world can be confusing

The heavy duty truck world exists on a very different plane from passenger cars, and to a casual observer, it can be quite confusing.

For example, Mitsubishi Fuso has nothing to do with Mitsubishi Motors’ passenger cars. Renault Trucks has a different red background logo versus Renault passenger cars’ yellow background, and it belongs to AB Volvo, which is not related to Volvo Cars.

Here’s a quick introduction of trucks that appear to have the same logo as your car, but are actually part of a very convoluted relationship with another seemingly unrelated company.

Before that, a quick introduction to the hierarchy of the truck world. Mercedes-Benz, Scania, and Volvo are the Big-3 long haul truck makers, building 18 wheeler equivalents of the S-Class – the Mercedes-Benz Actros, Volvo FH, and Scania 770 S.

Yes, the Swedes rule over the Germans in the truck world. Saab may be no more, but its spirit lives on with Scania, which also explains why Scania’s logo is very similar to Saab’s.

If the Actros is the S-Class of trucks, the Scania 770S is the Rolls-Royce of trucks.

Volvo Group (listed as AB Volvo) is run independent of the Volvo Car Group, although both are under the Geely group’s umbrella.

Mercedes-Benz trucks are built by Daimler Trucks AG, itself recently separated from Mercedes-Benz Group AG, which handles the passenger cars and vans business.

Sitting one rung lower are companies analogous to your regular Toyota and Honda cars – the smaller Hino and Isuzu trucks, but just as Toyota also makes the V12-powered Century, Hino and Isuzu also have their high-end long haul heavy duty trucks, the Hino 700 and Isuzu Giga.

The Hino 300 Series and Isuzu Elf are like your Toyota Vios and Honda City, the entry level of heavy trucks. These are your most common delivery trucks, because they are cheap to buy, very fuel efficient, reliable, small enough to do deliveries in city centres and residential areas.

Of course, like the car world, you also have many upstart Chinese brands –Sinotruk and Foton for example. They are notoriously unreliable but many fleet customers are willing to risk it because they can buy 2 trucks for the price of one Japanese / German / Swedish truck.

Also, the truck world may seem like an unsophisticated, rough and tumble world, but the business of heavy duty trucks is actually closer to supercars than passenger cars.

The most obvious would be that these trucks are very expensive, and sales volume is low.

The Mercedes-Benz Actros for example, costs upwards of RM 400,000 (as a commercial vehicle, it’s tax free) but unlike someone who buys a Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the guy who is buying an Actros typically orders more than 1 unit. So although the pool of buyers is less, revenue per customer is actually higher.

Also, trucks can be customized in a variety of manner, just like a supercar. You can fit it with a larger fuel tank, different final drive ratio, or accessories like a power take-off (PTO) to drive a compressor, hydraulic pump, or to tilt a deck.

Many long haul trucks can be specified with a sleeping area, big enough for two beds, installed behind the driver’s seat.

You can even pick your preferred chassis – long wheelbase, short wheelbase, 4-wheel drive, etc.

That same chassis is also often converted into a bus, by an independent body builder, just like in the old golden era of Italian carrozzeria / British coach builders, when wealthy buyers would buy a rolling chassis from Rolls-Royce or Ferrari, to have a bespoke custom-made body fitted.

Now to answer which brand belongs to who:

In the 2000s, there was a wave of consolidation in the automotive industry. The business was becoming too competitive and with very little synergy between heavy trucks and passenger cars, many car companies had either separated or sold off their truck business.

Mitsubishi for example, sold off its Fuso trucks business to Daimler (now Mercedes-Benz Trucks), Renault Trucks to Volvo, while Volvo Group sold off its money-losing passenger car business to Ford, which was later taken up by Geely.

As part of the Carlos Ghosn-era reorganization at Nissan, Nissan Diesel, whose trucks wear the UD (Ultimate Dependability) logo, was sold to the Volvo Group.

However in 2021, Volvo sold Nissan Diesel to Isuzu, which is a fierce rival to Toyota’s Hino. However, Isuzu and Hino are now part of a ‘frenemy’ relationship, mediated by Toyota, to pool their resources together to develop the next generation commercial trucks and buses.

Meanwhile, Scania is now part of the Volkswagen Group.