CarBrandLogos archive · Scania · 1980

ScaniaScania 2-series

The modular cab range that made every Scania a set of choices, not a model.

Photo: Joost J. Bakker from IJmuiden · CC BY 2.0

The story

A defining chapter in Scania history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Scania 2-series, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Launched in 1980 to replace the 1-series, the 2-series introduced the structure that Scania still uses. Instead of a model line, buyers specified a cab from a family designated G, P, R and T, then chose a driveline to match the work, so a short-haul distribution truck and a long-distance tractor unit came off the same Sodertalje line built from the same parts.

1980 Scania 2-series · Joost J. Bakker from IJmuiden · CC BY 2.0

Design and engineering

The cabs were shaped by Italdesign Giugiaro, which gave the range a cleaner, more angular look than the utilitarian trucks it replaced, and the choice ran from a low day cab through the tall sleeper to the bonneted T with its distinctive short nose. Underneath sat Scania's own inline engines and, at the top, the V8 that had already become the marque's signature among owner-drivers.

In production

The 2-series ran until 1989 and established the pattern its successors refined rather than replaced: modularity as the core industrial idea, and a premium position defended by driveline engineering rather than price.

At a glance