Fiat Industrial is born

Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Fiat has decided to de-merge Iveco from its car-manufacturing operation. The idea is to make it easier for the van and truck maker to concentrate on its key activities and easier for it to enter into alliances or mergers with other commercial vehicle makers should it wish to do so.

The business will now form part of a new group called Fiat Industrial which will also include the industrial and marine engine activities of Fiat Powertrain as well as agricultural and construction machinery producer Case New Holland. Destined to be up and running by the end of the year, it will be listed on the Milan stock exchange.

Iveco will be launching an all-new Daily in 2013 and an all-new heavy truck range in 2014. The future does not look rosy for the Land Rover Defender-rivalling 4x4 Massif, however, which has yet to debut in Britain. It’s built for Iveco by Spanish manufacturer Santana.

Fiat is now in the driving seat at Chrysler, which owns Jeep. “That gives us access to six or seven different 4x4 platforms that could be equal to Massif’s,” says Iveco chief executive officer, Paolo Monferino. The Chrysler link could result in Daily and possibly Fiat’s Ducato being sold in the USA. Iveco’s Eurocargo truck may be marketed there too.

Iveco also has plans to expand its activities in Latin America and China. “By 2014 we’ll be producing twice as many vehicles in China as we do in the whole of the rest of the world put together,” Monferino says.

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