One of the oldest nameplates in trucking has a new lease on life. Bob Enright, the newly-appointed president of Autocar LLC, predicts big things for the make.

Autocar recently became a subsidiary of Grand Vehicle Works Holdings, LLC of Union City, Ind., after Volvo Trucks North America spun it off. Volvo was required to sell its low-COE truck business as part of the deal to acquire Mack Trucks/Renault RVI.
As far as truck brands go, you can’t go much further back than Autocar. It was created in 1899, just one year after the Winton Motor Vehicle Co. built the first truck in North America. Over the years, Autocar was a key player in the trucking industry and introduced numerous innovations. It changed owners a number of times before being acquired by Volvo in 1981 as part of the acquisition of White Motor.
Enright, the latest man charged with building the ageless brand, sees a lot of potential for Autocar as a niche player in specific vocational markets such as refuse. Given his most recent position as president of Western Star Trucks, he should know a thing or two about niche marketing.
The Autocar name will initially be emblazoned on the Xpeditor line of Class 8 LCOE trucks that GVWH acquired from Volvo. They will continue to be built under contract at Volvo’s New River Valley plant in Virginia until GVWH establishes its own manufacturing facility.
Meanwhile, Enright and his crew are busy setting up a distribution system and beginning to plan future products. The brand is expected to be sold and supported by many of the Volvo dealers that carried it before, but Enright said they are assessing each situation.
“We have some big decisions to make in the next few weeks,” he said. “There are plenty of opportunities out there for parts and service facilities.”
Asked what types of product we could expect to see under the Autocar name, Enright would not offer any specifics, but said there were numerous possibilities.
“We first want to sit down with our dealers and customers and ask them what they need,” he said.
Enright said the company’s size will give it an advantage in the market. “We have a great name and a great product and as a smaller company, we’re a little quicker on our feet,” he said. “That offers us the opportunity to give customers the specialized attention that some of the bigger manufacturers can’t. Customer-focused innovation will be a key part of our strategy.”
Privately-held GVWH has been in an expansion mode ever since founder and chairman Andrew Taitz bought Union City Body Co. in the early 1990s. In 1999, the company bought the P-Chassis manufacturing operation of General Motors and created Workhorse Custom Chassis. It has made significant inroads into the Class 3-5 RV chassis business since then.
GVWH is well-funded by an East-Coast investment firm and could snap up more niche brands. But Taitz was elusive about who the next target might be.
"While those in the industry are always free to speculate about possible deals, I'd rather not address hypothetical examples," he said. "What's important is that we've built this company by making prudent acquisitions and focusing on customers in specific niche transportation markets. Grand Vehicle Works will always consider acquisitions that make sense for the company."