The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will not oppose the merger between AB Volvo and Renault VI, ACCC Chairman, Professor Allan Fels, said today.
In July this year, Renault and AB Volvo signed an agreement where Renault would sell its truck manufacturing operation, Renault VI, to AB Volvo in exchange for 15 per cent of the share capital of AB Volvo.
AB Volvo is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of trucks under the Volvo brand name. In Australia, Renault VI trades under the brand name of Mack Trucks.
"The ACCC has carefully considered the competitive impact of this merger in Australia by making market inquiries. The main area of competitive overlap between Volvo and Mack Trucks in Australia is in the supply of commercial heavy duty trucks (trucks weighing over 16 tonnes).
"The merged truck supplier will still face significant competition from other commercial truck manufacturers including International/Iveco, Kenworth, Isuzu and the DaimlerChrysler Group.
"The ACCC found that competition for the supply of heavy duty trucks is quite intense, and that the merger was unlikely to diminish this to any significant degree".