The History Of Iveco

Iveco is an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin, Italy. It is a subsidiary of the Fiat Group, and produces around 200,000 commercial vehicles and 460,000 diesel engines annually, and for the year ended 2007 the company had €11,196 million in sales (revenues).

The name is an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, an alliance among European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat (including OM and Lancia Veicoli Speciali), Unic and Magirus.

Today the company is a significant player in the medium-duty commercial vehicle and engine markets, and is near the top for sales of passenger transport and 3.5 ton light vehicles.[citation needed]

Iveco became the All Blacks' global sponsor in January 2007.

The company is dominated by Fiat Group, and was created on 1st January 1975 by Fiat manager and mechanical engineer Bruno Beccaria (1915-2001) through the merger of five companies operating in Italy, France and Germany; Fiat Veicoli Industriali (located in Turin), OM (Brescia), Lancia Veicoli Speciali (Bolzano), Unic (Trappes) and Magirus (Ulm).

In 1990, Iveco acquired 60% of ENASA, a leading truck manufacturer and makers of Pegaso brand of commercial vehicles in Spain. This was a important step in the history of Iveco since it became a local brand in all the leading European markets. With this acquisition, Iveco expanded its manufacturing locations to Barcelona, Valladolid and Madrid in Spain.

In its early years, the company focused on rationalizing, integrating and optimizing the various manufacturing and commercial structures that had been independent until then, and the first centralized functional structure emerged. From a marketing viewpoint, these years saw the launch of the Daily (1978), the Turbo (1981) and the Turbostar (1984), three vehicles that symbolized Iveco's entrepreneurial success in Europe.

Iveco had to overcome a crisis in the early 1990s, fuelled by increasingly fierce competition. In order to respond more effectively to the growing specialization of the market, Iveco broke its structure down into specialist corporate units that addressed specific customers divided by product type. In those years, the company continued to boost its strategic presence in the world. In 1992 Iveco purchased the Italian company, International Trucks Australia Limited, which still plays a very important role in the Pacific Rim. And Iveco Mercosul was created in Brazil in 1997, as a base for manufacturing and distribution operations all over South America.

In 1995 the EuroClass luxury coach was voted International Coach of the Year, and in 1999 Iveco and Renault decided to combine their efforts in the public transport field by merging their respective bus operations. This merger included companies such as Heuliez and Karosa, and the result was Irisbus, one of the major manufacturers in the passenger transport sector, which was further strengthened by the acquisition of the Hungarian company Ikarusbus.[citation needed]

Constantly growing attention was paid in those years to the integration of products and services, both to respond comprehensively to customers' requirements and to combat the extremely cyclic nature of the automotive market. This strategy led to the creation of Transolver in 1997, which took Iveco into the world of financial services.

On the commercial front, in 1998 the EuroCargo, which was sold in over ninety countries and led the market in Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Bulgaria and Slovenia, was voted the "Best Imported Truck" in Germany. In 2000 it was the light segment that won awards, when the Daily was voted "International Van of the Year", and the one-millionth vehicle left the assembly line. In 2006 it produced the Ducato and the Scudo. In 2007 it produced the Fiorino. Today Iveco has 49 factories, 15 research and development facilities, 840 dealers, 31,000 employees, and is in 19 countries. 40% of the engines Iveco manufactures go to Iveco vehicles, 60% are sold as OEM units for use in automotive, industrial, agricultural, marine, and power generation applications. It is a major European producer of fire-fighting vehicles.

In 2007, Iveco announced plans to reenter the United States truck market.

Iveco produces engines in three plants: SOFIM Foggia, Italy (8140-series), IVECO SpA Turin, Italy (8000 and NEF-series) and Bourbon-Lancy, France (Cursor-series). Sofim company was bought by Iveco in 1981.

See also: Irisbus

Iveco is making hybrid electric vehicles.

This includes :

• Iveco Civis, tram on tyres . In service in Rouen and Clermont-Ferrand (France) and Las Vegas (USA).
• Iveco EuroPolis hybrid (midibus): Siemens electric motor and Exide led gel batteries.
• Trolleybuses Iveco Cristalis and Iveco Citelis

• Iveco - light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles
  • Daily (2.8 - 6.5 t GVW)
  • EuroCargo (6.5 - 18 t GVW)
  • Stralis (40 t GVW)
  • Massif 4x4 off-road vehicle, a rebadged Santana PS-10 with facelift by Ital Design
  • Acco (Australia only, medium [variable weight])
  • PowerStar (Australia only, heavy prime mover)
  • Trakker (over 72 t CNG, Gross Combination Weight)
• Iveco DVD (Defence Vehicle Division)
  • LMV - wheeled multi-role light vehicle developed by Iveco DVD of Bolzano
  • 40.10WM 4X4 off-road military truck - light armored vehicle based on the Daily, includes semi-armored and fully-armored variants. Also produced in China by Naveco as the Nanjing NJ2046. Western Star built copies for the Canadian Forces 1993-1997
• Iveco Magirus - fire-fighting applications
  • Iveco Ford Truck - Now Iveco Limited (Iveco's UK Division). Iveco Ford Truck produced the Cargo, the UK market leader for many years built in Langley, Slough on which the current EuroCargo was based (Originally a Ford Product).
  • Lohr Magirus
  • Iveco Mezzi Speciali
  • Camiva in France - Chambéry, Iveco EuroFire - fire-fighting applications
• Iveco Powertrain - engines: automotive, industrial, agricultural, marine, and power generation

• Astra S.p.A. - heavy-duty trucks, all-terrain rigid dump-truck, articulated dump-truck, quarry-construction site vehicles, in Italy
• Irisbus - minibuses, citybuses, GT and intercity coaches (previously under "Iveco" brand)
  • Eurobus (discontinued)
  • TurboCity (discontinued)
  • See Irisbus for Irisbus's buses and "Iveco" buses rebranded as Irisbus product.
• Naveco - China joint venture Iveco NAC, Iveco Daily.
• Otoyol - medium commercial vehicles Eurocargo 1st version, in Turkey.
• Pegaso-ENASA in Spain (brand defunct)
• Seddon Atkinson - special-purpose construction and waste collection vehicles - United Kingdom (brand defunct)

Iveco also produces many types of vehicle specific to certain countries. These include the PowerStar and Acco brands listed above, which are continued from original models produced by International Trucks Australia Limited.