Saviem's fan club (Part 1)

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS OLD TIME LORRIES, COMPANIES AND DRIVERS (INTERACT
6651

Davidoff:

Geoffo:
1

This month’s issue of Truckstar magazine.

Hello Gentlemen and I hope you are all doing well. It’s been some time since I last posted on here.

I see our young PV83 is on the road again, visiting somewhere sunny. Not many lads get the chance of doing international work these days, unless they are ex-commie block so Patrick I hope your enjoying yourself!
Did you manage to put Fergie’s Fuller tutorial to work yet? Though I don’t suppose you’d be running down to Italy in a Beriet, Turbostar or such like…

Geoffo, I like that article of the Centaure. This would have been a subject very dear to the heart of John “SAVIEM”, sadly no longer with us.

The motor on the picture is a very convincing replica of a Centaure, owned and restored by the Berliet Trust (Foundation Berliet), located some 40 clicks North-East of Lyons.

I think I might have posted some stuff on the Centaure saga on here before (many years ago) but there seems to be some new guys on here so at the risk of repeating myself…

  • the article is correct in stating that the Centaure came out in 1978, ahead of Volvo’s F-series Globetrotter.
  • Berliet’s Centaure was designed to enhance Berliet’s brand credibility (and sales volumes) in the harshly competitive international road haulage market.
  • The article says it was equipped with Berliet’s V8. That is true but was not the only choice. Indeed most of the approx 400 Centaures built were TR350 with Berliet’s in-house MIVS 08.35.30, 15-litre V8 power plant. However some Centaures were sold as the more modestly-powered (and more frugal) 6-in line, intercooled TR305.
  • Berliet’s heavy range was articulated as follows: TR (single drive artic units) - TRH (double-drive 6x4 artics), GR (single drive wagons), GRH (6x4 wagons). The TR350 was of course the most frequently sold.
  • Berliet’s main issue was cost. All Centaures were basically standard units which were sent to bodywork specialist Lamberet for customisation, and with a very wide range of taylor-made options and features). As such, Berliet’s wonderful product always remained a very expensive specialty product, they could never manage the economies of scale which Volvo achieved thanks to building their Globies on the main production line, and were sold by the hundreds if not thousands.
  • In 1980, the French government decided that both Berliet and Saviem should merge together under the Renault Véhicules Industriels (RVI) umbrella. It was quickly decided by RVI management that the “Le Centaure” programme should be discontinued. Only a handful of existing Customer commitments would still be honoured, but these Centaures would already be badged under Renault’s new nomenclature: R310 (6 in-line, successor to the intercooled TR/GR305) or R360 (V8, the exact same engine specs as Berliet’s TR/GR350).
  • The only known original surviving Centaure belongs to my mate Julien who lives not far from Paris. I will share a picture a bit later. This motor was put away in a barn in 1990 after 10 years on Iraq work only to turn up again in 2011 in Julien’s hands. A unique find indeed.
  • Fondation Berliet’s Centaure as pictured in Geoffo’s article is in fact a replica based on a later model Renault R390 Turboleader, an evolution of Berliet’s 350 (now intercooled). The purists will spot the details giving away it’s not a “true” Centaure, and this lorry receives occasional criticism for that. Factually this is true, but personally I think this is a very unfair blame on Fondation Berliet whose work is remarkable (230 vehicles on 7’000 square meters which is the size of a large supermarket).
    By the time they decided they needed to include a Centaure to their remarkable collection it was too late, the always rare le Centaures had all been scrapped or been sent somewhere hot. The nearest thing available was a high-roofed Renault R Turboleader, which is what they took. Their work deserves nothing but praise for the quality and finish of this vehicle.
  • Last anecdote: the forced marriage between former archrivals Berliet and SAVIEM was far from easy - basically the two had been competing on the same market for the same Customers for some 30 years, and some Customer wouldn’t accept Berliet under any circumstance. To preserve their chance of selling the product, Berliet/Renault decided to re-badge some units under SAVIEM. See below the result.
    0
    Why am I saying that? Because exactly ONE SAVIEM-badged Centaure was built, unfortunately it burnt down due to electric problems somewhere in the 80s.

Okay chaps, I do realise the length if this post is its best defence against ever being read (a quote from Sir Winston). I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.
Bonne nuit

Thank you for posting this info. Very informative.