1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140 
GLOBAL ASPIRATIONS
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Fontaine VBG's owner Marmon is not a conventional conglomerate; instead it is an "association" of more than 100 companies. As the name suggests, parts of the firm originate from Marmon, the now defunct manufacturer of cars and trucks, but the group also includes hotel group Hyatt.
While control from the top (company president Bob Pritzker, a 74-year-old multi-billionaire based in Chicago) is direct and immediate, sister companies have no special deals with each other.
Fontaine international in the US is a huge producer of fifth wheels—it puts out 120,000 each year, 10 times the production of Fontaine VII—but It doesn't dominate the UK operation. As Roger Darling puts it: "We are Fontaine International Europe. Basically there's a line down the Atlantic and we look after Europe."
Fontaine VBG holds about 40% of the UK fifthwheel market (8-9,000 a year) with up to TO% of the smaller market for drawbar couplings. These are sourced from V80 in Sweden which, despite its name, is an independent firm. But the Cheshire firm has
more world-wide
responsibilities too in response to the inevitable globalisation of truck manufacture. As firms like Scania and Mercedes-Benz open assembly plants all over the world they expect component suppliers to keep up with them. For example, VBG is in discussion with South American manufacturers to licence-build components for truck plants in Brazil and Argentina.