Iveco Motors sales and service network

Diesel Progress North American Edition, March, 2005 by Luigi Carnino

At the end of the assembly process in the various production plants, before assembling of the accessories required for Iveco's vehicular applications, the bare engines for power generation and marine applications, as well as the ones sold on the open market to the various OEMs, are muted to the Pregnana Milanese plant. There, they are tailored according to OEM's specifications to exactly match the application requirements.

In 2004, about 40,000 engines (9.5% of Iveco's total production) were submitted to the customization process in Pregnana Milanese. This number is forecast to reach 60,000 units by the end of 2007--a 50% volume rise in three years.

The power range covered by the four engine families is the following:

* SOFIM/HPI 70-125 kW (94-167 hp).

* NEF 40-295 kW (54-395 hp).

* Cursor 180-400 kW (241-536 hp).

* Vector 270-1600 kW (362-2145 hp).

To fulfill its stated targets, Iveco Motors is engaged in the development of its sales and service network, giving priority to the areas where the market penetration looks the most promising. These areas include North America, China, India and South America.

Special efforts have taken place to penetrate the North American marketplace. The American subsidiary of the Italian company, Iveco Motors of North America, based in Carol Stream, Illinois, began operations in January 2004 and is covering the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. Before beginning actual engine sales, its main efforts were devoted to establishing a first-class distributor and service network that now counts 100 distributors and nearly 200 service points.

A separate program has been set up to increase the share of long-term supply agreements with key customers inside and outside the Fiat Group.

Iveco's product mix in 2004 shows a 56% share in the light-duty engine class, 34% in medium-duty and 10% in heavy-duty. The mix per application sector shows a 71% share in automotive, followed by 24.5% industrial, 4% power generation and 0.5% marine. The trend in recent years is to gradually decrease the automotive share mainly to the benefit of industrial applications.

Customer care is based on a spare parts order processing system connected to a network of six strategically located virtual warehouses. All American distributors are connected to the U.S. central warehouse in Carol Stream. In the near future, all Far East countries, including Australia, will be served by a new local warehouse.

Great attention has been given to the training of service personnel which has to be promoted by local distributors for all service points located in their area.

Iveco Motors has an e-learning program presently in the implementation stage for the newly hired service personnel.

Luigi Carnino

Sales and Marketing General Manager

Iveco Powertrain