Sisu Auto

Oy Sisu Auto Ab is a truck manufacturer based in Raseborg, Finland. Its name comes from the Finnish word sisu meaning guts, grit and determination.

Sisu Auto has a subsidiary company, Sisu Defence, producing high mobility tactical vehicles for military use.

Production

Civil trucks The currently available Sisu Polar variants are with three, four or five axles in various layouts. The applications are: Sisu Cranecrane trucks Sisu Rockdump trucks Sisu Rollhook loader Sisu Timbertimber trucks Sisu Worksroad maintenance trucks Sisu Carrierheavy machinery carrier

Military trucks Sisu 4×4 Sisu 6×6 Sisu 8×8 Sisu 10×10

History

1931 to 1939 The company was established on 1 April 1931 as Oy Suomen Autoteollisuus Ab (SAT). It originated from two neighbouring Helsinki-based automobile coach builders, Autokoritehdas and Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri, both of which had fallen into financial troubles by the beginning of the 1930s. The banks, which were funding both companies, pressed them to put together their operations under one company. The founders were Emil Anton Winckelmann, Lars Wilhelm Åberg and Karl Arthur Nordgren. In the first company meeting the company general manager was selected John Hellsten and the technical manager was appointed Tor Nessling.Blomberg: Fleminginkadun koritehtaista syntyi suomalainen autotehdas. pp. 17–28.

At first SAT continued the coachbuilding business which it had inherited from its predecessors, but also put into practice the plan of building own vehicles, which was evolved already earlier, when Autoteollisuus-Bilindustri had ordered few Volvo chassis for outfitting. These chassis formed the basis for the first pre-series of vehicles.

As soon as the business started, SAT started to seek a good brand for its products. In the early summer of 1932 the company set up a name competition which was advertised in the main newspapers of Helsinki. The competition got a lot of attention and some 3000–4000 suggestions were received. The jury met in Hotel Kämp in Helsinki to select the winner in the middle of June 1932. Three candidates were selected: Sisu ("guts; stamina; stubbornness, determination"), Karhu ("bear") and Haukka ("hawk"). Eventually, Sisu became selected.Blomberg: Mikä autolle nimeksi? p. 32. As many people had suggested the successful name, the winner of the 1,000-mark prize was selected by lotteryhe was young Veikko Arohonka, actually signed up by his older brother Eino, who later became a writer.Blomberg: Lyseolaisesta kummisedäksi. pp. 32–33.

The first nine Sisus, models S-321 and S-323, were handed over to the customers in 1932. Six of them were lorries and one was a bus. The first production series, based heavily on Volvo components, were made in 1933.Blomberg: Salaperäinen esisarja. pp. 56–61.

Beginning of domestic vehicle production led to an odd episodethe Finnish government became concerned about losing toll incomes because of the locally built vehicles. In 1933 Dr. Juho Jännes was assigned to investigate the financial impact of domestically produced automobiles. The outcome was that if 500 of the vehicles annually sold in Finland were produced domestically, the state would lose 700,000 marks because of reduced toll income but the benefit due to employment effect would be between 17–27 million marks.Blomberg: O/Y Suomen Autoteollisuus A/B:stä Suomen Autoteollisuus Oy:ksi. p. 62.

John Hellsten was replaced by Tor Nessling as general manager in 1932. Nessling started to develop the business determinedly; the technical challenges caused by weak locally produced parts were resolved by time and the degree of domestic work could be increased. Another, persistent problem was the continuous lack of cash reserves.Blomberg: Tuotanto täysille. pp. 62–64. Nessling tried to lobby the government underlining the positive effect of domestic vehicle production, but he was not listened, and the state reduced the tolls of imported vehicles making competition more intense. The company owners did not believe in the potential of domestic vehicle industry and Nessling could obtain a large part of the shares from the funding banks for relatively cheap, eventually owning 80% of SAT. The continuous pressure and repeating setbacks did not discourage the personnel and management, who did what ever it took to solve out the challenges. Over time the technical quality was reached to a such level that SAT could convince the customers that the relatively high price of Sisus, compared to imported vehicles, pays off due to their robustness.

In 1934 The Volvo-based S-321 and S-341 series were followed by short-lived SO-series, which was already in 1935 replaced by the SH-series,Blomberg: Kohti kotimaisuutta. pp. 92–94. with which SB-series was produced in parallel 1938–1941.Blomberg: Dieselaika alkaa. pp. 94–98. The first three-axle lorry was produced in 1935.

The first country where Sisus were exported was Estonia, where SAT sold the first SH-2 chassis in 1936. Due to the contemporary Estonian taxation system, complete vehicles could not be exported there, and therefore the cabins and superstructures were built locally. More units were sold in 1938. Latvia was the first country where complete Sisus were exported. The city of Riga bought a series of forward control buses powered by Hercules diesel engines which were delivered in 1937 and 1938. The complete number of vehicles exported to the Baltic states before the Second World War is not known but the business was regarded successful.

1939 to 1945: Second World War

Changes in line of production When the Winter War broke out, as a strategically important company SAT went under military administration. A part of the production was moved to Järvenpää and Lahti. The company produced for example aerial bombs and transportation devices for them.Blomberg: Tehtiin muutakin kuin autoja. pp. 143–145.

Right after the Winter War in spring 1940 SAT started producing an own carburettor type under name Häkä for carbon monoxide fuel. Technically the carburettor was not one of the most successful of its kind. The development work was continued with subsidies of the state until it was finally filed in 1946 as unnecessary due to improved availability of petrol.Blomberg: Tarvittiin voimaa voimanlähteille. pp. 145–148.

SAT started own engine production in 1940 under Hercules licence.Blomberg: Omin konein eteenpäin. pp. 99–104. This together with tram buildingBlomberg: Tuotannollista hajaannusta. pp. 69–71. and 1942 started axle productionBlomberg: Mukaan materiaalinkäsittelyyn. pp. 148–153. led to lack of space in the factory area. The first plans of moving some of the production out from Helsinki were made already before the war. The plan was put into practice due to the war which made the factory located in the capital vulnerable to Soviet air raids.Blomberg: Katseet kääntyivät Sisuun. pp. 274–275. In 1942 the construction of new premises began in Karis, which was out but sufficiently reachable from Helsinki. Coach- and cabin building was transferred first, after which the tram production followed; building of lorries stayed exclusively in Helsinki until 1950.

The 1942 introduced Sisu S-15 bus chassis was the first Sisu entirely built by using domestically produced components.

The scope of production remained diverse until the 1950s partly due to war reparation industry. SAT produced parts for Finnish paper machine builders and other engineering companies.Blomberg: Radoille ja teille rautaa – konein tai ilman. pp. 153–159; 167.

Yhteissisu

At the same time when SAT built the new factory in Karis, the Finnish Defence Forces reported needing thousands of vehicles in the near future.Blomberg: Yhteissisun piti hoitaa kuorma-autonvalmistus. p. 274. SAT suggested building the factory larger in order to meet the demand. However, the importers of other makes as well as some politicians suspected that SAT tried to use the war to gain a dominant position in the Finnish market. Eventually, an agreement was reached in 1943 when SAT, the state and a number of Finnish companies set up a separate company Yhteissisu to produce lorries. SAT and Yhteissisu signed a contract about transferring Sisu S-21 lorry production to Yhteissisu.Blomberg: Valtiovalta otti komennon. pp. 275–277. Vanaja municipality next to Hämeenlinna was selected for the factory location.Blomberg: Valittiin siis Vanaja. pp. 280–281.

The war was over before Yhteissisu could start serial production at the full scale.Blomberg: Synkkiä pilviä taivaalla. pp. 281–282. Yhteissisu had the right to use the Sisu-brand until June 1948. When this expired, the company was renamed Vanajan Autotehdas (VAT) and its products were named Vanaja. VAT became a strong competitor to SAT in the Finnish market which was small but still protected by import restrictions.Blomberg: Ollako vai eikö olla? p. 283; 291.

According to the contract with Yhteissisu, SAT was not allowed to produce lorries during the five years' period. SAT made Sisu S-15 buses but some of the chassis were fitted with lorry cabins and superstructures.

1945 to 1969: Growth and diversification In 1949 SAT made a return to lorry production with the Sisu K-23.Mäkipirtti: S-sarja – Kotimaisuusaste korkeimmillaan. pp. 21–26. The first heavy forward control lorries were the 1956 produced B-56 and 1958 introduced B-72, both of them being built on bus chassis.Mäkipirtti: Sisu B-56SH kuorma-auto. p. 75. The small forward control lorry Nalle-Sisu KB-24 came to market in 1955.Mäkipirtti: KB-sarja. p. 76. Other notable models introduced in the 1950s are the heavy dumper trucks K-36,Mäkipirtti: Sisu K-36SS maansiirtoauto. pp. 83–84. the first 6×4 driven Sisu, K-32,Mäkipirtti: Sisu K-32SH, ensimmäinen 6×4. p. 70. and K-44 with a North European specialty, 4×4+2 layout.Mäkipirtti: Sisu Jyry 4×4+2. pp. 64–69.

SAT started partnership with Leyland Motors Ltd. in 1950. The background originates to friendship between the general managers of both companies, Tor Nessling and Donald Stokes. For a while the SAT test department investigated for possibilities of producing Leyland engines under licence; trials for better output and torque were made on test bench with turbocharged applications, before Leyland even had taken such into production. As a part of the partnership SAT became representative of Leyland products in Finland.Blomberg: Kumppanuuksista hyötyä ja voimaa. pp. 198–199.

The 1954–1959 produced trams equipped with two-axle bogies featured progressive steel structure technology that Valmet and Tampella later copied for their jointly developed tram type. SAT produced 4×4-driven "rail trucks" for railway maintenance work under assignment of the Finnish State Railways in the 1950s. The first ones, JXB 7, JXB 12 and JXB 13 were equipped with a one-man cabin; later came JA-4 and JA-5 with cabins for three. The mechanical crane was replaced by a hydraulic one in the 1966–1972 produced JA-9SV, JA-12, JA-14 and JA-16. From 1958 SAT produced rail control vehicles which were equipped with coachwork similar to forward control buses. Some of them were produced jointly with and VAT. Also some KB-48 4×4 road-rail lorries were delivered. Altogether SAT delivered 150 rail trucks of various types to the State Railways. In 1963–1970 SAT produced three types of two-axle light diesel locomotives. The Sisu JA-7 were powered by Leyland diesels and the railway company used designations Tka 2 and Tka 3.

SAT sold a number of Hercules-based Sisu AMG engines to Dutch DAF and got as payment total 96 pieces of forward control DAF models K-50, P-50 and A-50 in 1951. The vehicles were delivered without engines, some of them were lacking of gearboxes and electric components. They were equipped with the same Sisu AMG engines and other Sisu parts at the Fleminginkatu factory in Helsinki. The last units were sold in 1954.Blomberg: Ei pelkästään Sisuja. pp. 167–171.