ALLENTOWN, PA and GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN - Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America will merge next month into a single organization called North American Trucks to sharpen efficiency, a Mack spokesman said.

Mack spokesman John Mies said the move is an organizational change with the two Volvo AB-owned truckmakers that will not affect either the Mack or Volvo brands. They will continue to operate ''separate sales organizations and brands strategies and two distinct lines of vehicles,'' Mies said.

He added, ''It's an internal change and to the outside world there will be very little change and there is no local impact in the Lehigh Valley.''

The organizational change was first reported Thursday by trade publication Today's Trucking. The publication obtained a copy of an Oct. 9 internal document distributed to Mack and Volvo employees, Mies said.

As part of an ongoing effort to increase efficiency and competitiveness, Mack Trucks is in the midst of a companywide restructuring that began last year and included the recent move of the truckmaker's headquarters from Allentown to Greensboro, N.C., where Volvo North America is based.

Mies said the merging of some of the two companies' operations will improve profitability and efficiency of the brands.

Dennis Slagle, Mack's president and CEO, will take the helm of the newly named company and Per Carlsson, president of Volvo Trucks North America, will be chief operating officer. The changes take effect Nov. 1.