Iveco is focusing on bolstering connectivity and driver assistance features on its facelifted Daily as it seeks to bring to market a light commercial vehicle that meets the needs of contemporary businesses.
The brand acknowledges the industry is undergoing change at an unprecedented rate with digitalisation, electrification, automation and tailored customer service becoming dominant trends.
As Gerrit Marx, Iveco’s newly installed president of commercial and speciality vehicles, explains: “We have a clear roadmap for the future, a strategic vision that addresses the key trends driving our industry.”
Marx coins a term, “revolutionary evolution”, to illustrate how the revised Daily embodies the manufacturer’s strategy to match customers’ business expectations.
The engines powering the Daily line-up remain the same as those introduced in 2016 when the Euro6 emissions standard was adopted.
There is a choice of 2.3 and 3.0-litre diesels and electric and CNG versions are also available.
The larger diesel engine has outputs of 150, 180 and 210hp while the 2.3–litre goes from 120 to 140 to 160hp.
Customers can chose between six-speed manual or the consummately smooth eight-speed automatic Himatic transmission, although the 3.0 150hp is only manual while the most powerful 3.0-litre 210hp unit is exclusively Himatic.
The Daily now gets a smaller, leather-coated, multi-functional steering wheel that can for the first time be adjusted for height and reach, making it easier to find the best driving position, and another new addition is electric power steering, a system already employed by rivals such as VW on the Crafter and Mercedes on the Sprinter.
It requires less effort from the driver at lower speeds than the previous hydraulic set up, which takes the strain out of city-based assignments, as does the introduction of an electric, push button parking brake to replace the old handbrake, a change that Iveco claims makes life much easier during the course of the day for busy parcel delivery operators.
While it also facilitates getting from one side of the cab to the other it is not clear how the brand calculated that the new device could save operators up to five hours a month in delivery times.
The introduction of a three-piece bumper should reduce repair costs following minor collisions, with only the damaged section, rather than the whole unit, needing to be replaced.
LED lights are another new feature on the facelifted Daily. The brand says they improve visibility and obstacle perception by up to 15%, but like much of the other new kit it is not yet clear on which models they will be standard, or otherwise, how much they will cost as options.
With driver-focused additions combining with the Daily range’s payloads of from around 1,000 to 1,420kg and load volumes spanning 9.0m3 to 18.0m3, Norberto Codegone, Daily product manager, claims: “It drives like a car and loads like a truck.”
But it is in the Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to which the engines are harnessed where the real changes are taking place.
The Advanced Emergency Braking System function can activate the brakes at up to 50km/h (31mph) by detecting the potential for a collision if the driver fails to intervene and, Iveco claims, can also prevent accidents at speeds of up to 80km/h if the vehicle in front is travelling from 10km/h.
At the other end of the scale, the City Brake Pro system kicks in at speeds as low as 5Km/h to stop bumps happening in busy traffic. Iveco claims City Brake Pro can cut the frequency of low-speed collisions by up to 38%.
Gerritt Marx president of commercial and speciality vehicles
(Continued from page 1) Iveco has also introduced technology on the Daily designed to keep drivers fresh and reduce their stress levels.
Queue Assist, activated by a steering wheel-mounted button, automatically controls the accelerator and brake in slow moving traffic. When stop/start engages the driver touches the throttle to reactivate the system. Queue Assist is borne out of the more widely adopted Adaptive Cruise Control that maintains a set speed and safe distance from the vehicle ahead at higher speeds and comes into its own in reducing fatigue during long motorway hauls.
With other safety features Iveco is getting up to speed with other brands, such as Mercedes, which has long been a pioneer of safety kit on its large Sprinter van, rather than breaking new ground. Examples include Proactive Lane Keeping Assist, which prevents the van from drifting across lanes by prompting the driver with steering support, and Crosswind Assist, which intervenes to maintain stability in conditions where there are strong lateral gusts of wind.
Hill descent control, which controls the vehicle on steep slopes and Traction Plus, which provides extra grip on slippery surfaces also use technology commonly available on the market but Iveco claims the Daily is the first van in its class to offer these aids on rear-wheel drive models.
Following its introduction of the Daily Business Up app in 2016, Iveco has dived further into the pool of connectivity to boost its fleet management capability.
Referring to digital connectivity, Light Line business director Sergio Piperno Beer says: “It’s unthinkable not to have it.
“We are now transmitting in real time all the vehicle data. We can anticipate needs depending on [each van’s] usage.”
Iveco claims it can tailor its connectivity services to chime in with different customers’ operational and business requirements.
The Daily’s connectivity package puts the van in direct contact with the manufacturer’s fleet management Control Room, enabling staff to maximise its uptime by monitoring its diagnostics and arranging maintenance and service interventions with the least possible disruption to the vehicle’s work schedule.
Iveco claims its new Remote Assistance Service makes it possible to carry out dataset changes, diagnostic tweaks and software uploads remotely, thus preventing downtime by eliminating the need for workshop visits.
The data harvested from fleets of Dailys enables Iveco to produce tailor-made financing offers based on a customer’s particular operational patterns. If vans are used less than originally forecast, for example, or carry lighter payloads, payments can be adjusted accordingly.
In addition, the data also allows the development of service and maintenance contracts that accurately reflect vans’ useage, according to Iveco.
When it comes to telematics, the MyDaily portal, also available as an app, aims to help small businesses and fleet managers improve efficiency through analysing a vehicle’s performance, fuel consumption and the driver’s driving style from a desktop computer or mobile device.
The Daily can generate Smart Reports on the vehicle’s key parameters, such as acceleration, braking and gear changes, with suggestions on how to improve driving style to save fuel.
Iveco has split its connectivity capabilities into packages to suit different customer groups and the Fleet pack, developed in partnership with tracking specialist Verizon Connect for large fleets, contains the most functionality. Features include route navigation, fleet visibility, advanced engine diagnostics, near real-time mileage reporting, maintenance scheduling and the ability to accommodate changing delivery schedules and monitor driving hours.
It can also set geofencing to notify fleet managers when drivers enter certain areas.
Through the Web API interface Iveco says the package can integrate with customers’ existing fleet management systems.
Iveco is expected to extend servicing intervals from 25,000 to 37,000 miles on the Daily and claims its raft of new innovations will result in maintenance and fuel cost savings of up to 10%.
The facelifted Daily has a lot going for it in terms of new and genuinely useful connectivity and driver assistance features. UK operators will be anxious, however, to discover how much of this kit comes as standard and how much of it will have to be specified as options, and at what cost.
