Spartan Motors, Inc., Charlotte, Mich., purchased Royal Truck Body, a Carson, Calif.-based designer, manufacturer and installer of service truck bodies and accessories. Royal joins Spartan's specialty chassis and vehicles (SCV) business unit, and will continue to go to market under the Royal Truck Body name.

"This is an exciting day for Spartan," says Daryl Adams, president and CEO of Spartan Motors. "Our acquisition of Royal Truck Body marks the continued execution of our strategic plan and delivers on the promise of nationwide expansion to the benefit of our customers, suppliers, team members and our shareholders."

The purchase of Royal expands Spartan Motors' manufacturing operations into Southern California, Northern California, and additional West Coast markets, advancing its U.S. footprint strategy with six additional operating facilities located in California, Arizona, and Texas. Spartan will utilize Royal's existing production facility in Carson and its five other locations throughout the Sun Belt to build and distribute commercial trucks to West Coast customers.

"As we welcome Royal to the Spartan family and work to grow our combined business, we see many opportunities to further our value proposition of additional expansion into the trades, fleet and last- mile delivery categories nationwide. Our long-term strategy is to broaden our geographic footprint with increased capabilities for each regional location to offer a comprehensive suite of products and services," Adams says.

Royal manufactures and assembles truck body options for various trades, service utility truck bodies, stake body trucks, service vans, contractor trucks and dump trucks.

"I'm thrilled that Spartan represents such a close fit with our company values and culture, including hard work, accountability and customer satisfaction," says Dudley DeZonia, former president, Royal Truck Body. "Spartan has a compelling vision and success story, and I am confident the future will be incredibly bright for Spartan and the Royal Truck Body brand."