Volvo currently owns 19% of Nissan Diesel. Nissan Diesel is reported to have 24% of the Japanese market for heavy trucks and 15% of the country's medium-heavy segment. For its part, Volvo is the world's second-largest manufacturer of trucks. It sold its automobile division to Ford Motor Co. in 1999. The company owns Mack Trucks in the United States and Renault Trucks in Europe.
"It's important to do this deal now and not in a few years," said Lief Johansson, Volvo's CEO. "We have some very important emission standards coming up and in the short term we can share research and development on that."
For its part, Nissan Diesel's president, Iwao Nakamura, said, "During our joint synergy study, great trust grew between the companies and I believe that the merger is the best alternative for our future."
Based on a joint study of synergies, Volvo feels that savings of $263 million a year for the next five years are possible through increased purchasing volumes, product development and access to each other's dealerships and service networks.