The ERF name is finally disappearing from the UK road transport industry following the decision by MAN to stop branding vehicles with the ERF name.
The writing has been on the wall for the ERF brand ever since Cummins decided it would not produce a Euro 4 engine suitable for the range. The use of a Cummins engine was the main differentiator between ERF and MAN trucks which both used the same cabs.
Des Evans, chief executive of MAN ERF UK, said: “We have always said that while there was a sustainable UK market demand for the ERF brand, we would continue to build and supply them. Sadly for this historic brand, due to the fact we no longer have a Cummins engine as a differentiator, that demand has shrunk to almost nothing and it is not economically viable to manufacture and market the ERF brand.
“We are proud of our association with ERF and we have secured a very loyal customer base and a very experienced after sales network who are specialists in the supply and servicing of PET Reg and Hazardous Goods vehicles.”
ERF’s roots go back to 1856 when Edwin Foden began his career with a small engineering company near Sandbach in Cheshire that would become Foden Trucks.
A family split led to the formation of the company named after Edwin Richard Foden and the first truck was produced in 1933.
A lightweight cab made ERF’s particularly attractive to carriers of bulk goods such as tanker operators.
Dennis Foden died about a decade after his father and was succeeded as managing director by Peter Foden.
