As of August 30, 2018, one of the world’s leading transportation groups has a new brand identity: Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG has become TRATON AG.
Andreas Renschler, Chief Executive Officer of TRATON AG and member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, says, “TRATON is a young company with the unique character of a start-up and the extensive experience of its traditional brands. This combination is what it takes to re-invent transportation for future generations. Today, we start spreading the TRATON spirit across all our brands, locations and functions. It is impressive to see how strong our ties are: TRATON lives through the brands and vice versa. Together we are the TRATON GROUP and we are dedicated to drive transportation to the next level.”
The group, founded in 2015 as Volkswagen Truck & Bus GmbH, comprises the brands MAN, Scania, Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and RIO. TRATON as new identity for the umbrella brand will foster the entire group’s independence on the way to become Global Champion, i.e. the most profitable, innovative and global player in the transportation industry.
“Our group consists of strong unique brands, but TRATON makes us even stronger. Under one roof we are able to join forces and bundle our innovative power. TRATON connects the brands and fosters our collaboration. With TRATON we are laying the foundation for a new ecosystem of transport and logistics,” says Henrik Henriksson, CEO of Scania and member of the board of management of TRATON AG.
Within the first initial years, the group has already made significant progress by focusing on its Global Champion Strategy. The group increased the global presence of its brands by entering strategic partnerships and realized synergies through bundling forces in purchasing and R&D.
“As a group, we have grown together faster than expected. Now, we are leveraging our combined strength and sharing experiences across brands even more. The group’s new identity TRATON reflects our DNA and our open mindset to learn from each other and to go new ways. It stands for this joint approach and will promote it further,” says Joachim Drees, CEO of MAN and member of the TRATON GROUP management board.
With the go-live of the new name, the group will start an “inside-out-campaign” with parallel employee events taking place in Munich, Braunschweig, São Paulo and Södertälje. The fundamental idea is to spread the TRATON spirit across the organization in different waves and to write the TRATON story together. The approach follows a network philosophy: nominated ambassadors are part of TRATON’s next generation and create a community. They will use this momentum and motivate other teams within TRATON GROUP to connect across brands, hierarchies and functions. An internal platform with multimedia content and on-site dialogues will keep the movement running.
Antonio Roberto Cortes, CEO of Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus and member of the TRATON GROUP management board, says, “TRATON gives our brands new identification potential. It will help to distinguish between the Group and other Volkswagen brands. Ever since we started working together, every member of our team was eager to drive things forward through collaboration and to help our customers to win the race. This idea has a name: TRATON.”
The new name as well as the new claim “transforming transportation” reflect what the company is striving for and how it is acting:
- TRAnsformation of the ecosystem transport is our mission – for everyone’s benefit.
- TRAnsportation is our and our customer’s passion.
- TONnage is what our customers are moving around the world, every day.
- TRAdition of our strong brands is what is grounding us.
- Always “ON” is the ultimate goal of our customers and our attitude in order to make everything possible for them.