Tone of voice
What's a tone of voice?
Certain things are unmistakably Scania. Our logotype. Our people. Our typeface. Just a glimpse of them in action and you instantly recognise our brand. The same goes for our tone of voice. Whatever we’re writing or saying as Scania should sound ‘like us’.
This guide will help everyone get our tone of voice right. Every time. Our voice is real and relevant, accessible and inviting, and feels confident and secure.
Let’s hear how that sounds.
Being real and relevant
We've never been a sprawling, impersonal and faceless corporation. Instead we're a company of real people, all pulling together to change the world of transport.
It’s why you won’t hear meaningless buzzwords and cold corporate jargon at Scania. Instead, we talk about relevant things the way real people do.
It’s why we use everyday, down-to-earth words. Everyday expressions. Simple sentence structures. And notice how much more personal it feels to say ‘we’ instead of always ‘Scania’.
Do
- Know it's ok to say ‘we’.
- Remember professional doesn’t mean being stiff or cold.
- Write with a gentle smile, daring to make little warm remarks, asides or even a little twist here and there.
- Say it like it is. Both the good and the bad.
- Be straightforward. In what we say. And the words we choose to say it with.
Don't
- Crack jokes, use puns or have our audiences laughing out loud.
- Use buzzwords. They get tired too quickly. Or clichés. They’re tired already.
- Ignore your reader. There’s a real person at the end of your text; talk to them accordingly.
Being accessible and inviting
Our trucks love distance. But when we write, we want to get close to our readers.
Being accessible is a big step in drawing people in. Know your audience and where they’re at right now. Know their understanding, know their needs. Respect and satisfy them both.
Choose words that everyone can understand. You don’t have to live and breathe trucks to enjoy a Scania text. Or swallow a dictionary, either.
Do
- Find everyday ways and words to bring complex ideas to life.
- Pitch your message and the words you deliver it with at the right level for your audience.
- Talk with our audiences, drawing them into dialogue and involving them.
Don't
- Launch into listing features or specs without first finding a relevant connection with our reader.
- Talk at our audiences.
- Make it all about us.
Being confident and secure
We’re really secure in being Scania. We know who we are. We know our market. We know where we’re going – and how to take our audiences on that journey with us.
This easy confidence isn't arrogance. It feels reassuring. It builds trust. And this is reflected in our clear, determined and no-room-for-doubt voice.
And while we know a huge amount about transport, we’re humble enough to realise there's still plenty left to discover. We might not know all the answers. But we can ask all the right questions.
Do
- Say big, bold things (as long as we’re 100% behind them).
- Dare to simplify. It’s not dumbing down. It’s a sign of our expertise.
- Talk in unconditional terms (will not might, when not if, can not could) to show our belief and commitment to driving the shift.
- Say what’s important. What’s right. And what matters.
Don't
- Avoid difficult issues.
- Say what we assume might be expected.
- Go anywhere near a keyboard without knowing why you’re writing or what you want your audience to do.
Examples
Like this
The transport industry is changing fast. So we innovate even quicker. It’s how we’ll drive the shift to cleaner, safer and smarter solutions.
Not like that
The transport industry is changing fast, and to drive the shift towards cleaner, safer and smarter solutions, we need to be able to innovate quickly.
Like this
Another Green Truck Award for Scania – our fourth in a row.
Not like that
Scania is pleased to announce we have been awarded the coveted Green Truck for the fourth consecutive year.
Like this
The future of vehicles is here. Here in Södertälje, Sweden, where we’ve just invested close to 1bn SEK in an incredible new test track, designed to put autonomous and electrified vehicles through their paces.
“Our ambition is to be a leader within electrification of heavy vehicles and strengthen our ability in autonomous vehicles over time. It takes large investments to stay at the forefront,” says Anders Williamsson, Scania’s Head of Industrial Operations.
Not like that
Scania invests close to a billion SEK in a new test track for autonomous and electrified vehicles in Södertälje, Sweden.
”Our ambition is to be a leader within electrification of heavy vehicles and also strengthen our ability in autonomous vehicles over time. It will take large investments to stay at the forefront. We evaluate and examine the possibility to build a test track adapted for future vehicles to meet the demand in autonomous and electrification we see is on its way,” says Anders Williamsson, Head of Industrial Operations, Scania.
Like this
The harder materials work for your truck, the more they deserve a touch of extra care. Take aluminium. Its weight-reducing capacities in modern engines and cooling systems bring enormous efficiencies. In return, it demands greater protection against moisture and corrosion and more effective heat dispersal than standard materials. Exactly what you get with our coolant.
Not like that
Modern engines and cooling systems use aluminium to reduce weight, but aluminium demands greater protection against precipitation and corrosion. Additionally, much more power is compressed into a smaller engine space, generating a lot of extra heat – heat that must be efficiently dispersed by the engine coolant.
Like this
Ever noticed how change has a habit of happening when you least expect it? Next time situations shift overnight, we’ll make sure you’re ready for anything. You just need Scania Rental.
Not like that
The ability to adapt quickly to the market situation is crucial to any business. When your customers’ conditions and activities change, they expect your company to follow. No matter if it happens overnight. In a world of logistics, this piece can be hard to fit in the puzzle. But not to you. With Scania Rental you are well prepared for any type of transport assignment.
Like this
Our goals for the future are clear. And we're confident we've got the right roadmap in place to achieve them.
Not like that
By implementing Scania’s strategic roadmap we are confident in our ability to achieve the goals which we have clearly set out.
General guidance for all Scania writing
Not every text you write needs to be in our brand tone of voice. A report or an internal email, for example, probably won’t tick all the brand tone of voice boxes. It does, however, need to follow the basic principles as defined in Scania's Communications policy, that shape all Scania internal and external communication.
Communications policy
All Scania communication must conform to laws, regulations and customs of relevant institutions and meet high ethical standards. False pretences, sexist imagery and allusions, as well as discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, or other factors are strictly forbidden. Prioritising safety, health, and responsible behaviour for employees and drivers, associations with alcohol or drugs should be avoided. The same goes for "greenwashing": we should avoid irrelevant nature images, "green" buzzwords, and unsupported claims.
All communication also need to follow the basic principles described below.
Every Scania communication – be it internal or external – provides necessary information, shows our expertise and contributes to relevant discussions through constructive dialogue.
Scania communication has a clear purpose, always adds value and is firmly rooted in our business and operations. We don’t speculate, spread or stir rumours, or even comment on decisions or actions made by our competitors. We have specialists who are experts in business-based communication – and we use their skills where necessary.
What we say is always true to both our brand and our strategy. By building a consistent story over time, we build connection and trust with our key audiences.
Read more in the Communications policy (Scania Group Policy 29) on Reflex.
Writing in English
British or American English?
Use British English. In British English you’ll see s is used instead of z in many words, such as standardisation (US: standardization). Other examples are writing centre (not center) in British English and the spelling of tyres (tires in US English).
There are however some exceptions. At Scania we use powertrain instead of driveline, and truck instead of lorry, and we write percent, not per cent.
Make sure that you use a British English dictionary when you look up words, and set the proofing language in your word processing software to English (United Kingdom). In the Scania PowerPoint tab there is a button to select English (UK) as proofing language. This will set the proofing language for all the slides in the presentation. Note that English (United Kingdom) must be installed in your Windows settings for this to work.
Capitalisation
The following are always capitalised in English:
- Months (January, April)
- Days of the week (Sunday, Monday, Friday)
- Country names (Sweden, England)
- Languages and nationalities (Swedish, English)
- Proper nouns (Scania, Barack Obama, United Nations)
- Acronyms of organisations and concepts (IBM, GDPR, WHO)
For document titles and section headings, use sentence style capitalisation. This means only the first word (and proper nouns) in a heading is capitalised.
For professional titles and organisational group names, capitalise all the main words (usually the nouns) in the title:
- Head of Department.
- Chief Financial Officer.
- Team Leader
- People and Culture
- Production and Logistics
- Ventures and New Business
When a professional title is used generically or descriptively (that is, not as part of someone’s name), it is not capitalised.
- The professor presented an interesting lecture.
- Our company hires many engineers.
Dates
Use the following format: 9 January 2011 or 09 Jan 2011. Avoid writing months with numbers in international contexts as different countries use different orders for day, month and year.
Write years out in full, the 1990s, without apostrophe.
Numbers
Use a period as the decimal separator: 2.6 mm.
Use a comma as the thousands separator: 1,000 and 50,000,000.
All numbers from 10 upwards should be written as numerals (10, 11, 12 etc.)
Abbreviations
Use abbreviations only when you need to save space, for example in fact boxes, tables and charts.
Abbreviations that are well known in one country may not be so in another, so spell out kilometre per hour on first reference, then short km/h (never kph).
The standard at Scania is to write 'and' instead of &. This applies both in running text and in department names or business areas. The only exception is generally established abbreviations, e.g. R&D.
Acronyms
If possible avoid acronyms.
Always spell acronyms out in full the first time, with the acronym in brackets, before using the acronym. Don't put to many acronyms together.
Scania Lexicon contains a separate dictionary for acronyms and abbreviations in the top menu.
Measurements
Always use the metric system.
Metric tonnes is spelled tonne. Ton is not metric, and differs in US and Britain, so avoid using it.
Contractions
It’s perfectly fine to use contractions in our writing. But don’t overuse them. Too many and we slip from feeling real to sounding overly laid back. In a formal document to investors, for example, choose you are more than you’re.
Getting British English right
While our company language is British English, that's not everyone's Mother Tongue. Use this simple guide to help you avoid some of the most common English writing mistakes.
Many of the materials being produced at Scania are authored by non-native English writers. As such, many of the rules and guidelines here focus on the challenges experienced by non-native writers, with a particular focus on the mistakes Swedish writers often make, as more Swedes write in English.
Acrolinx is an authoring tool available as a plugin for example in PowerPoint and Word. This tool helps authors follow writing rules and use standardised terminology.
Acrolinx currently supports Swedish and English.
To use Scania Acrolinx a licence and software are required. The Acrolinx software can be ordered through Scania Now. The licence is created automatically when logging in for the first time.
How to pronounce Scania
Scania derives from the Latin name of Sweden’s southernmost province Skåne and is is pronounced /'ska:niə/ Click to listen to how Scania is pronounced.
Read more about how Scania sounds in our guidelines for sound, music and voice over.
Language support
Visit Reflex for more information and links to the language services offered by Scania, and the contact details to Scania's linguistic centre (dep YS).
Translations
For translating texts and documents there is a secure machine translation portal called Scania Translate. It supports over 70 languages with automatic, AI-enabled language detection, and preserves original document formatting.
Using other open translation tools may reveal internal information about our business that we do not want to disclose. They also often use American English spelling and vocabulary.
Scania Translate is available to everyone with a Scania e-mail address and contains nMT Microsoft Custom Translator engines trained with Scania terminology and technical documentation (choose “Technical” engine) as well generic nMT MS CT engines and DeepL (the last ones only available for certain language combinations).
NB! Do not use Scania Translate for information classified as “Secret”! Only allowed for Internal and Confidential information.
Glossary
Scania Lexicon contains Scania’s standardised technical terms, abbreviations and marketing names. The purpose of Scania Lexicon is to promote a uniform and functional use of language within the company, and in communication with its customers. It can be used as an encyclopedia, an authoring aid or a translation tool.