Scania, , is the southernmost province (landskap) of Sweden. Within Scania, there are 33 municipalities that are autonomous within the Scania Regional Council. Scania's largest city is Malmö, which is also the third largest in Sweden, as well as the fifth largest in Scandinavia.
To the north, Scania borders the provinces of Halland and Småland, to the northeast Blekinge, to the east and south the Baltic Sea, and to the west Öresund. Since 2000, a road and railway bridge, the Øresund Bridge, bridges the sound to Denmark. Scania is part of the transnational Øresund Region.
From north to south Scania is around 130 km and covers less than 3% of Sweden's total area. The population of over 1,320,000 represents 13% of the country's population. With 121 inh/km2 Scania is the second most densely populated province of Sweden.
Historically, Scania was part of the kingdom of Denmark, up until the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. Denmark regained control of the province during the Scanian War 1676–1679 and again briefly in 1711. Scania was formally included in Sweden in 1720.
History
Ale's Stones, a stone ship (burial monument) from c. 500 AD on the coast at Kåseberga, around ten kilometres (6.2 miles) south east of Ystad.
Map of Denmark in the Middle Ages, Scania was together with the provinces Blekinge and Halland a part of Denmark
The coat of arms of Scania in an engraving from 1712 in Erik Dahlbergh's Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna.
Vabis and Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania
AB Scania-Vabis was established in 1911 as the result of a merger between Södertälje-based Vabis and Malmö-based Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania. Vagnfabriks Aktiebolaget i Södertelge (Vabis) was established as a railway car manufacturer in 1891, while Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania was established as a bicycle manufacturer in 1900. Both companies had tried their luck at building automobiles, trucks and engines, but with varied success. In 1910, Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania had succeeded in constructing reliable vehicles, while Vabis was at the brink of closing down. An offer from Per Alfred Nordeman, managing director of Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania, to steel manufacturer Surahammars Bruk, owner of Vabis, led to an agreement in November 1910, and in 1911 the merger was a reality.
Development and production of engines and light vehicles were set to Södertälje, while trucks were manufactured in Malmö. The company's logo was redesigned from Maskinfabriks-aktiebolaget Scania's original logo with the head of a griffin, the coat of arms of the Swedish region Scania (Skåne), centered on a three-spoke bicycle chainset. Initially the headquarters were located in Malmö, but in 1912 they were moved to Södertälje.
First World War and 1920s
Because there were many inexpensive, imported cars in Sweden at the time, Scania-Vabis decided to build high-class, luxury cars, for instance the type III limousine from 1920 that had a top hat holder in the roof. Prince Carl of Sweden owned a 1913 Scania-Vabis 3S, a type which was fitted with in-car buttons so the passenger could communicate with the driver. Scania-Vabis also built two-seat sports cars (or "sportautomobil").
For the next few years the company's profits stagnated, with around a third of their orders coming from abroad.The outbreak of the First World War, however, changed the company, with almost all output being diverted to the Swedish Army. By 1916, Scania-Vabis was making enough profit to invest in redeveloping both of their production facilities.
Following the war, in 1919, Scania decided to focus completely on building trucks, abandoning other outputs including cars and buses.However, they were hurt by the swamping of the market with decommissioned military vehicles from the war, and by 1921 the company was bankrupt.
After some economic difficulties in 1921, new capital came from Stockholms Enskilda Bank owned by the Wallenberg family, and Scania-Vabis became a solid and technically, high standing, company. Denmark
Towards the end of 1913, the company established a subsidiary in Denmark. The following year the first Danish-built car, a four-seater Phaeton, was built at the company's Frederiksberg factory in Copenhagen. In 1914, the factory produced Denmark's first Scania-Vabis truck, and following this developed a V8 engine, one of the first in the world. In 1921, having sold around 175 trucks, and 75 cars, the Danish operation was closed down. Norway
In 1917 an agreement was established with the newly formed Norwegian company Norsk Automobilfabrik A/S about production under license of Scania-Vabis cars and lorries. Production began in 1919, but was ended in 1921 after production of only 77 lorries, mostly built from Swedish produced parts.
1930s and 1940s
During the Second World War Scania produced a variety of military vehicles for the Swedish Army, including Stridsvagn m/41 light tanks produced under licence.
1950s and 1960s
During the 1950s, the company expanded its operations into new customer segments, becoming agents for the Willys Jeep and the Volkswagen Beetle, the latter being very profitable for Scania-Vabis. It also started to become a genuine competitor to Volvo with their new L71 Regent truck which was introduced in 1954.
During this period, Scania-Vabis expanded its dealer network and country-wide specialist workshop facilities. By the end of the 1950s, their market-share in Sweden was between 40 and 50%, and was achieving 70% in the heaviest truck sector – helped by the entrepreneurial efforts of their dealers into the haulier market.
Probably their largest impact was in export markets. Before 1950, exports accounted for only 10 percent of production output, but a decade later, exports were now at 50% of output. Beers in the Netherlands became a very important partner. Beers became official importers for Scania-Vabis in the Netherlands, and established a dealer network, along with training programmes for both mechanics and drivers. Beers also offered free twice-yearly overhauls of their customers vehicles, and offered a mobile service throughout the Netherlands with their custom-equipped service trucks. Due to Beers concerted efforts, Scania-Vabis market share in the country remained at a consistent 20% throughout this period. Scania-Vabis were to adopt the business model of Beers in their own overseas sales operations.
The 1960s saw Scania-Vabis expanding its production operations into overseas locations. Until now, all Scania-Vabis production had been carried out solely at Södertälje, but the 1960s saw the need to expand production overseas. Brazil was becoming a notable market for heavy trucks, and was also dependent on inter-urban buses, with particular requirement for Brazil's mountainous roads which became nigh-on impassable at times.[11] On 2 July 1957, Brazilian subsidiary Scania-Vabis do Brasil S.A. (today known as Scania Latin America Ltda.) was established and started assembling some vehicles themselves in 1958. On 29 May 1959, a new engine plant was inaugurated in the Ipiranga district of São Paulo, and from June 1960, Scania-Vabis do Brasil assembled all vehicles themselves. Scania-Vabis vehicles had already been assembled in Brazil by a local company called Vemag (Veículos e Máquinas Agrícolas S.A.) for several years.[13] Scania-Vabis established its first full manufacturing plant outside Södertälje, by building a new facility in São Bernardo do Campo near São Paulo, which was opened on 8 December 1962, and this was to set the standard for Scania-Vabis international operations.
Closer to home, the recently formed European Economic Community (EEC) offered further opportunities. Based on their now strong presence in the Dutch markets, Scania-Vabis constructed a new plant in Zwolle, which was completed in 1964.[11] This new Dutch facility provided Scania-Vabis with a stepping stone into the other five EEC countries, particularly the German and French markets.
In 1966, Scania-Vabis acquired ownership of a then valuable supplier – Be-Ge Karosserifabrik, who were based in Oskarshamn. Be-Ge had been making truck cabs since 1946, and had been supplying cabs not only to Scania-Vabis, but also to their Swedish competitors Volvo. It was normal practice for truck manufacturers to outsource production of cabs to independent bodybuilders, so their acquisition by Scania-Vabis seemed a good move.Be-Ge owner Bror Göthe Persson had also established an additional cab factory at Meppel.
Scania-Vabis continued their expansion of production facilities through acquisitions. In 1967, they acquired Katrineholm based coachwork company Svenska Karosseri Verkstäderna (SKV), and created a new subsidiary, Scania-Bussar. A year later, all bus production, along with R&D was moved to Katrineholm.[11] Further production locations were added at Sibbhult and Falun, and Scania's employee numbers rose, particularly at Södertälje, which was to help double the town's population.
Scania-Vabis at some point in their history also manufactured trucks in Botswana, Brazil, South-Korea, Tanzania, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe and the United States.
For some time Daimler-Benz waged a 'logo war' with Scania-Vabis, claiming a possible confusion between the Scania-Vabis 'pedal crank' design featuring on Scania bicycles around 1900 and the Mercedes 'three-pointed star'.In 1968, Daimler-Benz won and the Scania-Vabis logo changed to a simple griffin's head on a white background.
In February 1968, a new range of trucks was launched, and at the same time the company was rebranded as just Scania. In addition to Vabis disappearing from the name and a new logo, all current models received new model designations.
1970s and 1980s
In 1976, the Argentinian industrial complex was launched. A few months later, on 10 September, the first gearbox outside of Sweden was manufactured and finally in December an L111 truck became the first Scania made in Argentina. Soon the plant specialised in the production of gearboxes, axles and differentials that equipped both the units produced in Tucumán and those built in Brazil.
Also in Argentina, in 1982 the Series 2 was launched as part of the "Scania Program", consisting of the T-112and R-112 trucks with two cab versions and different options in engine and load capacity. In 1983, was launched the K112 made in Tucuman (like the rest models) for replace the BR-116.
In mid-1985 Scania entered the US market for the first time (aside from having sold 12,000 diesel engines installed in Mack trucks from 1962 until 1975), starting modestly with a goal of 200 trucks in all of 1987. Scania limited their marketing to the Northeast, where conditions resemble those in Europe more closely.
Many examples of Scania, Vabis and Scania-Vabis commercial and military vehicles can be seen at the Marcus Wallenberg-hallen (the Scania Museum) in Södertälje.
Modified Scania trucks
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