Fiat bringing Iveco trucks stateside early 2008
The Fiat group seems to be on a ceaseless campaign to bring its products to the U.S. market. A range of products from Alfa Romeo are in the pipeline for importation, the upcoming high-performance Abarth version of the new Fiat 500 has been tipped to make the trans-Atlantic voyage, and now Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has announced plans to bring the group's heavy truck subsidiary Iveco to the American market. But while the 500 and Alfas may take a while to make the trip, Marchionne has a much tighter time-frame in mind for Iveco, declaring that they company "will have something done within six to nine months." That's mighty soon.
Iveco, short for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, builds close to half a million diesel engines and some 200,000 commercial vehicles every year, including heavy trucks, military vehicles, fire engines, buses, vans and even a formula racing truck that makes NASCAR Craftsman Series trucks look like toys.
[Source: Automotive News - sub. req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jorge 10:16AM (4/19/2008)
Hi all,
I write you from Spain. Do you know if it is possible to find Iveco Daily for sell in USA?
Thank you in advance for your co-operation.
Best regards,
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Ken 7:47PM (7/25/2007)
Cool - but what in the hell will they do for service? Look at the service centers in every corner of the country for the established brands - wonder how they will compete.
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AlexP 8:25PM (7/25/2007)
Think of Hino - they just established themselves last year and I'm only seeing Hino trucks nowadays...
Mainly because everyone's biased towards Toyota nowadays.
Barney 9:30PM (7/25/2007)
"Think of Hino - they just established themselves last year"
Say what? Try a few decades. Hino only started making conventional and had been making cab-overs previously. You probably just started noticing them.
shaman 8:18PM (7/25/2007)
Interesting... I thought Iveco was in the States long time ago. I drove an Iveco delivery truck in NY back in 1990-1994. Were the trucks discontinued and re-released?
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indijanac 8:23PM (7/25/2007)
Yeah, i thought that i saw a few Iveco trucks around. Iveco also sells trucks in Australia which uses pretty much the same trucks as NA market, so they could just import them from Down Under.
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Austin M 8:35PM (7/25/2007)
I was riding into Paris in a bus back in the summer of 1998 on the very same afternoon France had just beaten Italy in a World Cup match. Everyone in passing cars, on the streets, and even the local police were giving us the bird. We couldn't figure out why. One woman was so intent on flipping us off she ran into the car in front of her and I was able to see the shocked look on her face as it happened. It was only later that I discovered Iveco was an Italian company.
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Stéphane Dumas 8:44PM (7/25/2007)
I spotted an article from early May about a rumor of a joint-venture between Iveco and Navistar
http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/04200766483.htm
Also, a little interesting trivia, Fiat is the major shareholder of CNH who owns Case-IH (the former agricultural part of International Harvester who merged with Case) and New Holland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNH_Global
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BCM 9:34PM (7/25/2007)
Yes, Iveco sold medium-duty trucks in the USA in the 80's and early 90's. They still sell diesel industrial engines and generators, so they have a parts and service network and there are companies that service their trucks.
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AlexP 9:56PM (7/25/2007)
I meant here, I don't know elsewhere (but I know Hino is much older than that).
AlexP 9:58PM (7/25/2007)
I meant here, I don't know elsewhere (but I know Hino is much older than that). (sorry if double-posting occurs, my messages don't seem to show up even if I refresh the page)
Barney 9:36PM (7/25/2007)
Alex P.:
Hino has been around for a few decades. What you might be seeing is the conventional rather then their familiar COE.
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AlexP 9:58PM (7/25/2007)
Oh what the heck, it replied to the wrong post.
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Barney 10:09PM (7/25/2007)
I'm having the same problem!
Hino has been in "Canada" for many years and assumed it would have been in the USA longer, as is the norm.
AlexP 10:31PM (7/25/2007)
Well, Hino trucks have only been selling on a massive scale recently (I'm used to seeing Freightliners and such) here and service centers only started spreading around two years ago.
And have you seen their interiors? The steering wheels scream 80s Ford Truck, but again who cares? It's a Toyota! It's awesome! :rolleyes:
Funny thing is some contractors and construction companies still rely on the old late 80's Ford trucks (I mean, the big ones, not the F-series... Or is it the F-series? I can't say for sure, trucks aren't my area of expertise) and they're still doing a great job.
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AlexP 10:37PM (7/25/2007)
http://hinogatineau.com/images/258.jpg (that's the one I see the most)
They actually manufacture them in Ontario? Must explain why I'm seeing a lot, then.
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Barney 11:20PM (7/25/2007)
Those are the new conventionals . Well. for two years now. They made a cabover for decades and proved to be real reliable. As AlexP indicated, the interiors are old fashioned. NO trucker buys them for appearance but for the durability. It's got nothing to do with "if you like Toyota". These are workhorses. Many are unaware that Toyota & Hino are in the same bed.
AlexP 12:44AM (7/26/2007)
Truckers don't buy them, companies renewing their fleets do.
They make sure you know they're part of Toyota here with ads and such, so you can assume that they're "reliable" and "awesome" like all those other Toyotas.
BigDoggyIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 10:55PM (7/25/2007)
Interesting. Anyone know if they plan to sell over the road trucks? I don't see any conventionals in the pics, if so they will find it hard to sell cabovers. Every company has since abandoned that design. Drivers like hoods on their trucks! Besides there easier to service, etc.
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Barney 11:23PM (7/25/2007)
Navistar has started selling COEs. I believe that GM is still selling the Isuzu version as well. There is a great demand for small cabovers ever since Hino stopped making them. Hino should have continued with them.