Traton SE, known as the Traton Group (formerly Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG), is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group and one of the world's largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, with its Scania, MAN, International, Volkswagen Truck & Bus, IC Bus and Neoplan brands. The company also has digital services branded as RIO. In 2025, the group sold 305,486 vehicles. The range of products includes light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks, as well as vans and buses. As of December 31, 2025, Traton employed around 108,000 people in its commercial vehicle brands.
Contents
History
In 1979, Volkswagen AG held a 67% share in Chrysler Motors do Brasil Ltda., a Brazilian commercial vehicle manufacturer. In 1980, Volkswagen acquired the remaining shares in Chrysler, renamed the company Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus Ltda., and assigned it to the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles division.
In 2000, Volkswagen contributed 3 billion German marks to Swedish Scania AB, controlling 34% of the voting rights and holding 18.7% of the share capital. In 2006, MAN SE presented Volkswagen and the other Scania shareholders with a takeover offer in the amount of 9.6 billion euros. A few days later, Volkswagen rejected the offer, and broached the subject of a potential truck alliance for the first time.
In October 2006, Volkswagen AG announced that it had acquired 15% of MAN SE, but did not intend to take over. On 12 October 2006, MAN SE increased its takeover bid to Scania by 400 million euros, bringing it to a total of 10 billion euros. At the same time, it bought additional shares, giving it control of about 14% of Scania AB. After the partners also rejected the revised offer, MAN withdrew the offer in January 2007, and began talks about a possible alliance between the three companies. To further consolidate this alliance, Volkswagen acquired another 14.9% of MAN. Shortly afterwards, Volkswagen announced that it now held 35.3% of the Scania voting rights. Volkswagen acquired a further 30.62% of the voting rights from the Swedish Investor AB and the Wallenberg foundations in March 2008. Volkswagen had already controlled this share in the past by means of an agreement with the existing shareholders.
In December 2008, Volkswagen AG sold the Brazilian subsidiary Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus Ltda. to MAN SE for 1.2 billion euros. The company was incorporated into MAN Latin America Ltda. under a new name, selling the majority of its heavy trucks and buses under the Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus brand, alongside MAN Truck and Bus products.
Volkswagen acquired further MAN SE shares at the beginning of May 2011 and was obliged to submit a takeover offer, which it did at the end of the same month. Volkswagen held the majority of voting rights at 55.9% at the end of the acceptance period. As part of further share purchases, Volkswagen announced voting rights of 75.03% on 6 June 2012. Due to the resulting statutory blocking minority of 25%, Volkswagen was given sole control of MAN SE. On 16 April 2013, Volkswagen AG applied for “Truck & Bus GmbH” to be entered into the commercial register of the city of Wolfsburg. On forming this new subsidiary, Volkswagen transferred the shares it held in MAN SE, with which Truck & Bus GmbH signed a control and profit transfer agreement on 6 June 2013. Volkswagen AG held more than 89% of the Scania AB voting rights as a result of the shares in Scania held by its subsidiary, MAN.
Corporate structure
Integration into the Volkswagen Group
Traton forms the Commercial Vehicles Business Area of the Volkswagen Group, which owns a 87.5% majority shareholding. The Commercial Vehicles Business Area formerly included the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand, but following changes in the management structure of the Volkswagen Group, the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles brand was reallocated to the Passenger Cars Business Area from 1 January 2019. In 2024, Volkswagen announced plans to reduce its ownership of Traton to 75%, selling shares its shares as free float.
Scania AB, MAN Truck & Bus SE, International Motors, LLC and Volkswagen Truck & Bus are all wholly owned subsidiaries of Traton, which also holds 25% + 1 share of Sinotruk.
Leadership
Andreas Renschler (2015–2020)
Matthias Gründler (2020–2021)
Christian Levin (2021–Present)
Brands
The following active brands operate under the Traton Group:
Subsidiaries and Services
Scania
Scania AB makes trucks for long-distance and distribution traffic, construction sites, and special areas, including autonomous trucks for enclosed areas. City and intercity buses, and coaches complete the product portfolio. In 2025, the brand sold 94,073 vehicles – 87,588 trucks and 6,485 buses.
MAN
MAN Truck & Bus has medium- and heavy-duty trucks for long-haul and distribution transport, as well as for construction sites and special applications. In addition to urban, intercity, and touring coaches of the MAN and Neoplan brands, the TGE light transporter completes the range of models on offer. In 2025, MAN sold 99,961 vehicles, including 63,296 trucks, 7,002 buses and 31,344 crafters. In 2025, sales revenue of the MAN Truck & Bus operating unit was 14.1 billion euros.
International
International Motors produces heavy trucks under the International brand, and buses under the IC Bus brand. On 1 July 2021, International (at the time known as Navistar) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Traton SE, and therefore part of the Traton Group.
Volkswagen Truck & Bus
Volkswagen Truck & Bus specializes in developing markets. It has light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks for long-distance and distribution transport, construction sites, and special areas. City and intercity buses and coaches are also available. In 2025, it sold a total of 42,988 vehicles.
Traton Financial Services
Traton Financial Services is Traton's captive finance business, providing financial and insurance products and other services under the following customer facing brands:
Scania Financial Services
MAN Financial Services
International Financial
Volkswagen Truck & Bus Financial Services
RIO
RIO is the digital services brand of Traton.
Traton Charging Solutions
Traton Charging Solutions offers access to a network of public charging locations for electric commercial vehicles across Europe.