Iveco

IVECO was incorporated on 1 January 1975, with the merger of five different brands: FIAT Veicoli Industriali (with headquarters in Turin), OM (Brescia, Italy), Lancia Veicoli Speciali (Italy), Unic (France), and Magirus-Deutz (Germany).[3]

Following the merger, the newly founded IVECO began rationalizing its product range, manufacturing plants, and sales network, while keeping the original brands. From 1975 to 1979, the IVECO range included 200 basic models and 600 versions spanning from 2.7 tons of GVW for light vehicles to over 40 tons for heavy vehicles, as well as buses and engines.[4][5] In 1977, the light- to medium-weight Iveco Zeta range was introduced, replacing the 20-year-old OM Lupetto. Integrating the FIAT-OM range with the Unic and Magirus lineups was completed by 1980.[6] IVECO moved in to work on increasing productivity and engine development.[6] In 1978, IVECO launched the first product in the range of IVECO-branded light vehicles, the Daily.[7]

In 1980, IVECO built a turbo diesel engine for heavy industrial vehicles.[8] In this decade the corporate strategy was heavily oriented towards brand promotion and led to the sponsorship of sports events, such as the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, the Davis Cup in 1982, multiple championship boxing matches, the Jacques Cousteau expeditions in the Amazon basin in 1983 and the Raid Pigafetta, during which the IVECO-FIAT 75 PC 4x4 was first to make a full circle of the globe.[9] Two new divisions were also formed: bus diesel engines and firefighting vehicles.[10]

In 1984, IVECO launched the TurboStar,[11] a heavy on-road vehicle that became a best-seller in Italy and also successful in the European market, selling a total of 50,000 in seven years.[12]

In 1985, IVECO made the first light diesel engine with direct injection.[13]

From 1986, IVECO S.p.A. held a 52% stake in Iveco Ford Truck Ltd, a joint venture (and effectively a merger) with Ford of Europe's truck division. Ford plants took over production and sales of the major vehicles in the IVECO range and continued production of the Ford Cargo.[14] In the mid-1980s, Astra Veicoli Industriali, which produces dumpers and construction site/quarry vehicles in Piacenza, became part of Iveco Group.[15]

In 1989, the first diesel engine with EGR to reduce polluting emissions compatible with commercial vehicles was produced, and the new Daily launched that same year was fitted with it.[14]

In 1990, the group purchased 60% control of Spanish industrial company ENASA, which owned the industrial vehicle builder Pegaso.[14] In the 1990s, the EuroCargo, EuroTech, EuroTrakker, and EuroStar vehicles represented a total facelift for the range.[14] The EuroCargo and the EuroTech were named "Truck of the Year" in 1992 and 1993, respectively, and for the first time, this recognition was awarded to the same manufacturer for two years in a row.[16] English company Seddon Atkinson was purchased in 1991 and brought its long heritage of special vehicles for the construction and refuse-collection industries.[17] That same year, the first TurboDaily assembly line was inaugurated at the Nanjing Motor Corporation in China.[18] In 1991, IVECO announced that they were withdrawing from the North American market at the end of the calendar year; they had been selling the midrange Iveco Z/Euro there since 1978.[19]

In 1992, IVECO took over the primary constructor of industrial vehicles in Australia to form Ital, originally called International Trucks Australia.[20] In 2000 it was renamed Iveco Trucks Australia Limited.[17] In 1996 firefighting activities in Germany were structured under the company IVECO Magirus Brandschutztechnik GmbH.[21] The following year, these activities were boosted by the arrival of an Austrian company, Löhr, which then became Löhr Magirus.[17]

In 1998, the Cursor 8 was launched, followed the next year by the Cursor 10, the first diesel engine with a variable-geometry turbine and the first common-rail diesel engine for heavy industrial vehicles.[21] The 125th anniversary of the presentation of the first Magirus ladder[22] was celebrated together with the delivery of the 5000th Magirus aerial ladder produced since the Second World War.[21]

In 2003, IVECO entirely bought out Irisbus, originally part of a joint venture with Renault.[23] In 2004, the IVECO Motors brand was introduced, which became an umbrella for the production of engines; the following year, it was incorporated into the newly founded Fiat Powertrain Technologies. At the end of 2004, an agreement was reached between Iveco and the Chinese company Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC).[24]

In 2006, Iveco sponsored the Winter Olympic Games in Turin with a fleet of 1,200 Irisbus buses.[25] The year after, IVECO became sponsor of the All Blacks, New Zealand's rugby team.[26] In 2009, IVECO became the truck and commercial vehicle supplier for the Moto GP,[27] together with the historical sponsorship to the Ferrari Racing Team, for which it supplies the vehicles that transport the single-seaters at all the Formula 1 World Championship races.[28]

On 1 January 2011, Fiat Industrial was formed, incorporating CNH, IVECO, and FPT Industrial.[29] In September of the same year, the Fiat Industrial Village was inaugurated in Turin, a multipurpose centre belonging to Fiat Industrial and created for the sales, assistance, and product presentation for the IVECO, New Holland, and FPT Industrial brands.[30] On 15 January 2012, IVECO won the 33rd edition of the Dakar Rally with the Petronas De Rooy team and Dutch driver Gerard De Rooy, behind the wheel of an IVECO Powerstar. De Rooy was followed by drivers Stacey and Biasion behind the wheel of two Iveco Trakker Evolution 2 vehicles, equipped with an FPT Industrial C13 engine with over 900 hp.[31]

On 11 November 2021, Iveco published the prospectus in order to split from CNH Industrial which will be operated as a publicly separated company named Iveco Group N.V.[32] After the completion of the demerger, on 1 January 2022 IVECO became a part of Iveco Group N.V., the parent company of the trucks and speciality vehicles, powertrain and related financial services businesses previously held by CNH Industrial.

IVECO has 27 production plants and 6 research centres located in 16 countries. Outside of Europe, the company operates in China, Russia, Australia (factory ceased production in June 2022), South Africa[33] and Latin America. All the plants have obtained ISO 9001-vision 2000 (quality management by process) and ISO 14000 (environmental management) certification.

The brand's range of products include the Daily, a vehicle that covers the 3.3 – 7.2 ton vehicle weight segment, the Eurocargo from 6 – 19 tons and, in the heavy segment above 16 tons, the IVECO Way range with the on-road IVECO S-Way, the off-road IVECO T-Way and the IVECO X-Way for light off-road missions.

Iveco has in the past sponsored many major professional boxing events, including, in each case, the first of two fights between Sugar Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns[50] and between Aaron Pryor and Alexis Arguello.[51]

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  2014 Iveco Daily 35 S13 Van
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  2019 Iveco S-Way
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  2015 Iveco Eurocargo
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  2017 Iveco Tector
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  2018 Iveco 682
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  2007 Iveco Stralis
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  2016 Iveco Trakker
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  2016 Iveco Bus Evadys
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  2017 Iveco Bus Crossway
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  2018 Iveco Stralis X-Way

• IVECO Bus
• International Association of Public Transport
• List of Italian companies
• Sofim

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Iveco.

• Official website
• FPT (previously Iveco Motors)