Dubbed Truck & Bus GmbH, the new holding will cover both the MAN und Scania commercial vehicle brands, with chief executive Martin Winterkorn saying: "MAN and Scania will together become global champion."

The manufacturer added that Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles will also form part of the integrated commercial vehicles group and will report to Andreas Renschler – who was appointed earlier this year to head up the CV division. However it said the brand will continue to maintain close ties with the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand where the synergies mainly lie.

Volkswagen added that Truck & Bus GmbH will establish processes specific to the commercial vehicles business, thus leveraging the full synergy potential between the brands. The company will be led by Andreas Renschler, member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.

The company said the development the commercial vehicles holding is an important milestone on the way to becoming a global champion in the commercial vehicles industry.

"Our goal is to take the commercial vehicles holding to the top of our industry in terms of profitability, technologies and, above all, customer satisfaction. Bringing together our commercial vehicle brands under one roof means we can focus more strongly on the needs of the truck and bus business and can therefore accelerate the decision-making process," Andreas Renschler said. "In so doing, the MAN and Scania brands retain their independence, in line with Volkswagen's basic principle."