Foden Trucks was a British truck and bus manufacturing company which had its origins in Sandbach, Cheshire in 1856. PACCAR acquired the company in 1980, and ceased to use the marque name in 2006. In 1856 Edwin Foden became apprenticed to the agricultural equipment manufacturing company of Plant & Hancock. Shortly afterwards he became a partner in the company. On the retirement of George Hancock in 1887 the company was renamed Edwin Foden Sons & Co. Ltd. The company produced massive industrial engines, as well as small stationary steam engines and, from 1880, agricultural traction engines.
Experimental steam lorries were first produced shortly after the turn of the 20th century. In 1878, the legislation affecting agricultural use was eased and as a result, Foden produced a successful range of agricultural traction engines. The perfecting of the compound traction engine in 1887 gave a significant marketing advantage and later proved invaluable to the development of the steam lorry. In 1896 the restrictions affecting road transport were eased, which permitted vehicles under 3 tons to travel at up to 12 mph (19 km/h) without a red flag. The time was right and Foden produced a series of four prototype wagons. The experience gained from this, enabled Foden to build a 3-ton wagon for the War Office 1901 self-propelled lorry trial.
In the early 1930s, however, Foden realised that the future was diesel, and changed their production almost immediately, though the production of steam vehicles continued in diminishing numbers until 1934. Their first diesel vehicle was the Foden F1 introduced in 1931 and regarded as the "first commercially successful type of diesel lorry". Post-war initially saw the reintroduction of the old models with few improvements, although Foden entered the bus chassis market in 1946 by 1950 they had developed a rear-engined model, predating Leyland's Atlantean model by 7 years. Although the Foden PVR was a high-framed single decker, the cruciform chassis bracing used by Foden made an underfloor engine location as in the competitive AEC Regal IV, Leyland Royal Tiger or Daimler Freeline a non-starter.
A massive new production facility was developed in the early 1970s on a green field site, adjacent to the Foden works. The new plant was designed for an annual capacity of 6,000 trucks, based on an expectation of a continued boom in truck sales and exports. Instead, the market collapsed. The expenditure and the economic downturn of the period saw Foden run into financial difficulty in December 1974. It was given support by Harold Wilson's Labour government. Foden struggled as its home market continued to be depressed. It was 1977–78 before Foden returned to reasonable profitability. After the takeover of Leyland Trucks by PACCAR in 1998, independent Foden production ceased, and was replaced by models of DAF Trucks rebadged as Fodens. These vehicles have had the option of either CAT, Detroit Diesel, or Cummins ISMe engines.
