Certainly in Northwestern Europe, heavy Iveco vehicles have always had a reputation of typical, bare-bones ‘fleet trucks’, rarely owned by small transport companies or owner-operators. This has been the case since the Industrial Vehicles Corporation was formed on January 1, 1975.
But things started to change after the introduction of their new S-Way top model, five years ago. Just look at Weeda’s 2022 S-Way low roof tractor, it’s anything but bare bones. The Weeda collection only comprises stunning heavy tractor units, and I really doubt if they would ever consider an Iveco in the past.
The 6×2 tractor teamed up with a tridem axle semi-trailer for transporting shipping containers of various lengths, thus forming a classic, 50 tonnes/110,000 lbs semi.
Weeda’s Iveco is powered by an FPT Industrial Cursor 13 engine, an inline-six with a displacement of 12.9 liters. The 570 DIN-hp version is the most powerful truck diesel in the 13 liter class.
Since January 1, 2022, FPT Industrial is a subsidiary of the Iveco Group and also supplies powertrains to Case and New Holland.
An uncomplicated color scheme and livery, yet still standing out, this 2023 S-Way 4×2 tractor with a 485 hp Cursor 13 engine.
At the end of last year, the S-Way got a serious refresh, especially inside the cab.
No gear stick, as automated manual transmissions have become the norm in heavy on-highway trucks and tractors. Iveco uses the ZF TraXon AMT.
And no mirrors either, because cameras outside and display screens inside (mounted against the A-pillars). Not the norm, yet. But that won’t be long.
Certainly not an uncomplicated color scheme and livery. A 2023 S-Way 6×2/4 garbage truck, naturally with a day cab.
On the left in the picture, an Iveco X-Way skip loader. The S-Way is a dedicated on-road truck, the X-Way is for on-/off-road use.
And this can only be a VDK Pusher 4000 body. The whole ensemble is powered by a Cursor 9 engine (8.7 liters), 341 DIN-hp.
Something completely different, in an other September setting. A 2009 Iveco Strator 450 4×2 tractor, paying homage to Michael Schumacher (seven Formula One world titles).
The Strator is an aftermarket conversion of a Stralis cabover into a conventional, done by the Dutch Charles Feijts dealership group. The nose comes from the Australian Iveco PowerStar.
Since we’re talking Iveco, this combination fits in perfectly. Shot last week, from behind the office window. A 2024 Iveco Daily 40C35 panel van with a Hapert tridem axle, three-way dump/flatbed trailer.
The RWD (or AWD) Daily is the lightest Iveco vehicle and the heaviest of the full-size, Euro panel vans. The ‘dually’ van above has the 175 DIN-hp variant of the 3.0 liter, FPT F1C turbodiesel. Though the van is dark, nameless, windowless, and grimy, no illegal activities whatsoever took place.
Beautifully designed truck!
Long way from the old Iveco/Magirus 160 and 200 series trucks sold in the USA 2 generations ago. The Fiat diesel engines used, especially the 160 HP series, were really solid engines. The larger 200 HP models, not so much.
‘Beautifully designed truck!’
The jury agreed:
https://www.iveco.com/global/Press/PressReleases/2024/IVECO-S-Way-wins-coveted-iF-DESIGN-AWARD-2024
Very interesting – I could never quite figure out just how Iveco fit into the European truck market.
I’m not sure how I feel about the cameras replacing mirrors. Definitely has some advantages since mirrors are awfully vulnerable (physically), and the cameras might produce a better range of vision. But it’s just one more thing to go wrong and glitch. Definitely tradeoffs.
And I thought of your posts yesterday because I saw something I’d never seen before – a truck with Michelin Men mounted on the cab. In this case it was a Peterbilt, with the Michelin Men mounted on the mirror support arms. I see these often in your posts, but have never seen that here in the US. Wish I was able to have taken a picture.
Some other advantages are the improved aerodynamics and the absence of the giga blind spots behind those elephant ears, mounted on the doors.
Two Michelin Men: obligatory on owner-operator tractors!
Regarding cameras instead of mirrors, here’s a DAF demo (in English):
Thanks – that’s interesting. Hard to tell how good the screen resolution is in the video, so I guess that would be a big factor in whether they’re better/worse than regular mirrors. I know some car backup cameras & dash cams end up being pretty lousy under certain lighting conditions, and while a minor annoyance for a back-up camera, if the same thing occurs with your (only) mirrors, that’s a big problem.
Also, I suppose the mirrors do not function when parked, which probably takes some getting used to.
In the UK and probably most of Western Europe, in terms of ranking if not sales its,
Volvo
M.A.N. (VW Group)
Mercedes-Benz
Scania (VW Group)
DAF (Paccar)
Renault (owned by Volvo)
Iveco
The others marques that are still around are,
Tatra (Czech)
Avia (Czech)
Sisu (Finland)
BMC (Turkey)
Ford Otosan (Turkey) see the F-Max model.
And then its the specialists.
GINAF
Terberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_truck_manufacturers
I have never really known anything about IVECO – I had assumed that they were Japanese (and I now know that I was incorrect). They are seen in the US in the medium duty market, usually as a flat-front cabover version, but those are the only ones I knew about.
Manual transmissions are becoming an endangered species in big trucks in the U.S. too. It is a chicken/egg problem, I think. Young people here have not learned to drive with three pedals in a long time, so finding qualified people to drive trucks with manuals is all the harder. But vehicles here have been eliminating that third pedal in all kinds of markets, so it would follow that trucks are not exempt.
Iveco, CNH Industrial (Case-New Holland), FPT Industrial (Fiat Powertrain Technologies). A global giant, merged or demerged, doesn’t matter…
I’m always impressed by european cabovers-so much room! The last cabover I remember driving was an early ’80s Freightliner, where you sat next to the engine doghouse with your legs “down in the hole” and the shifter in the gap between the seat and the doghouse. Added to that was surprisingly poor visibility anywhere except dead ahead.
Ergonomics? Never heard of ’em…..
Some were better than others for visibility, like the GMC Astro, but still nothing like these for room and comfort.
I wonder if they ride any better than ours did?
Having driven many US brands of truck and most European brands Id take a Euro brand before American any day of the week, the ride better actually have headlights that work and at the end of a 14 hour day you arent beaten up by the noise and vibration.
Wow have trucks ever come a long way. While I never drove a semi, my third job was at a farm and garden center where we delivered anything from bulk mulch to feed to fertilizer. Our top dog truck was a 1973 GMC 7000. It had caught fire, had no gauges at all, a hole in the floor big enough for my foot to go through and a transplanted 454-4 barrel with dual exhaust and a 4 speed!
No comfort-all business that truck did very well for us and was cheap!
I am so grateful to the men and women who are willing to be truck drivers. We need them.
Well, I learned some new things today. It seems IVECO assembles trucks in Dandenong, not 15 miles from where I live! It’s on the site of the old International Harvester factory. The PowerStar truck mentioned can be had with Cummins mechanicals and manual trans, and can be specced to pull up to 140 tonnes for road train use in the vast outback (most likely far-flung cattle to coastal markets). That sort of use, over roads that are often pretty poor even when they’re not dirt, must mean the unit is good for it, which is impressive.
I don’t take too much notice of truck brands any more, but I do see the IVECO name on the road, because they import the smaller Daily and others too. (Btw, note to IVECO Aus – your website is appalling!)
Interesting to note that CNH seems to be ultimately controlled by the Agnelli family: I like the dry irony of some tough outback driver unknowingly enriching some of the richest and poshest people in Europe by driving a big old “bloody Fiat” – though probably with the US powertrain – way, way out there!
The only brand that can offer a wider commercial vehicle range than Iveco is Mercedes-Benz.
Iveco’s tough ‘n rough ride here is the T-Way. Available from 4×4 to 8×8 and every configuration inbetween, like the 8×4 below. FPT Cursor (thus in-house) engines only.
The manual DAFs we had on the milk came in via OZ where the awful ZF box was removed and 18 speed roadrangers fitted,
Been driving Cummins powered freightliners before I retired, hard to get excited about them too many failures at medium mileages, Cimmons NZ in Wiri has a yard covered in dead engines and dozens of crates with new ones ready to fit,
Cummins queered thew pitch for their engines here the Freightliner agents can NOT access the diagnostic software to fix them
You used to see Iveco trucks in the U.S., but no more. As mentioned above, they were primarily seen as medium duty cabovers, usually box trucks for local delivery.
The Daily (see article) and Eurocargo (see below) are the Iveco models for local deliveries.
IVECO’s ID work continues to be among the best out there in the Heavy Duty commercial field! VERY NICE! The cab ergos look to be first rate as well. BTW, it is, IMO based on doing both, far more difficult to do a ergonomically sound and attractive interior than to do a flashy exterior 🙂 DFO
Motorhome ‘cockpit’?
I drove an Iveco many moons ago a 2004 model dynoed 500 hp to suit the regulations here which said 500hp minimum to average 90kmh on all roads, my run was a closely timed event every morning my swap buddy would umhook at 12.30 am, Id hook on and m,y delivery slot was 214 kms away before 3am 2 hours 20 mins every trip dry wet snowing nothing slowed it down, handling was superb low 5th wheel and trailers designed for the job it carried parcel post in cages, a light load and a comfortable quiet truck to drive, that company had a fleet of those rugs all identical except for fleet number but mine had no GPS tracker, Interestingly or not Isuzu fitted the same transmission to their bigger tractor units and trucks but used their own software and they were garbage.
That must have been a Stralis, I assume. Introduced in 2002 and the S-Way’s predecessor. Below a 2004 Stralis tractor. Evidently, the 2019 S-Way was a major leap forward.