A NEW DIRECTION
The managing director of Iveco Australia and New Zealand, Michael May, made his way over from Dandenong, Melbourne, to join the celebration and share some news on the company’s future direction. It’s all centred on growth – and lots of it.
“S-Way and T-Way are a big part of the brand’s growth plans in the region,” says May. “A couple of years ago, we set ourselves a new route to grow our business in the region. We’ve surpassed most of the goals. We would have been able to surpass 3000 units between Australia and New Zealand last year but for supply chain challenges. From a mix perspective, that would’ve been about 1000 medium and heavy trucks and 2000 Daily units.”
May explains that forming the Iveco Group on-highway business unit in 2022 – separate from the agricultural arm left under the
CNH umbrella – has been good for the brand in the Australia/New Zealand region. While it has a strong following in the area and a historic link through production in Dandenong, the future will look a little different.
“It’s given us the opportunity to focus on the needs of our on-road customers. We made some regional decisions within the brand last year and stopped production in Dandenong, which was based on the old Acco model. It’s a turning point. We could have continued and had to invest tens of millions in that facility or choose to align with Europe and get access to the latest product and technology. We made the decision to bring ourselves up to speed and in step with Europe.”
In a $14-billion business with 34,000 employees, local product will benefit from expertise across 28 plants and global R&D centres. As May notes, it’s a substantial company but still flexible and fast.
“Iveco is focused on ‘driving the road of change’, being a global company but having a responsibility as we notice things are changing in our environment. We’re looking to lead the way with [clean] emissions and the technology we bring. Euro6e is class-leading and the cleanest product you can buy in this space.
“There’s a lot going on in propulsion. Battery and fuel-cell technology is moving forward. We’ll soon bring the eDaily to the region, which has received good feedback, so we’re excited to introduce it.”
May adds that the truck business, Iveco Truck, is in an exciting place, with record sales last year. “We continue to grow, particularly with the S-Way. It’s about getting the product to the people.”
Iveco’s people are a particular focus, too. “We’re focused on making sure we’ve got good people. Ultimately, that’s what matters to our customers. They need to be able to get hold of people who can support them and keep them moving. We need to be easy to deal with.
“Under our group CEO Gerrit Marx, we’ve been focused on quality and reliability in our products. With efficiency and partnerships, this is our clear focus,” May says.