To promote the link between Iveco and the XX Olympic Winter Games which are taking place in Turin this week, a “procession through Italy” was organised, an initiative that involved a number of leading vehicles from the Iveco range, which crossed the Italian peninsula (Verona, Catanzaro, Bari, Napoli, L’Aquila, Pescara, Perugia, Genova, Ragusa, Trento) for 7.500 km, between November 2005 and February 2006, concluding their journey just one week before the official opening of the Games. “The Iveco Champions come into play” is the slogan that accompanies Iveco’s involvement as an Official Sponsor of the Torino 2006 XX Olympic Winter Games.

All the “passenger transport” services during the Olympic Winter Games over the next two weeks, and then Paralympic Winter Games, are being organised using Iveco Irisbus vehicles. There is a huge fleet of around 1,200 buses, mainly long distance and touring coaches, but also minibuses and town buses, to transport the athletes, journalists, spectators and staff volunteers. The Games’ other Sponsors are also using over 100 Iveco Irisbus luxury touring coaches to transport their own guests. What is more, vehicles from the entire Iveco range have been employed in the development, construction and outfitting of the structures for the Torino 2006 Olympic sites. In addition, 26 Iveco vehicles were also supplied to Coca Cola and Samsung, the two sponsors of the “Olympic Torch Relay” and to the games organisor's, Toroc.

The fleet of over 1,200 buses being provided by Iveco to guarantee all the passenger transport services during the Olympics are now fully operational, the Daily Ecodriver included. The Daily Ecodriver vehicles underline both Iveco’s sensitivity to the protection of the environment and the fact that respect for the environment is central to the Torino 2006 XX Winter Olympics, as the setting for the competition and above all because it is an important element to defend and promote.
 

Meanwhile over the weekend two Daily Ecodriver vehicles joined the large transport fleet operated by Gruppo Torinese Trasporti (GTT), the company that runs public transport in and around Turin. The Daily Ecodrivers, developed jointly with Bosch, have joined approximately 200 vehicles running on natural gas that Iveco has already supplied to GTT, underlining both companies’ sensitivity to the protection of the environment. This environmental awareness is an integal part of Iveco’s corporate stategy, a fact underlined by the company’s inclusion in the Torino 2006 Sponsor and Sustainability programme, which aims to highlight the environmental initiatives put in place by Games organisers' TOROC and its partners, focusing on common elements and strengths in the context of the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games.

Research and development activities never cease at Iveco, and this enables the company to offer its customers reliable state-of-the-art solutions, which are always designed to have a minimal impact on the environment. The Iveco Daily Ecodriver is equipped with a parallel hybrid propulsion system; this type of vehicle architecture keeps fuel consumption to a minimum and also lowers the vehicle's emissions considerably.

The vehicle is fitted with a 45 kW / 240 Nm electric generator, combined with a 6as300 automated transmission and an additional 400 V battery pack, which recovers and releases energy. The vehicle’s main goal is to reduce consumption and emissions (particularly CO2 and greenhouse gases) in the urban environment, without detracting in anyway from travelling comfort for passengers, performance or versatility when used out of town, by recovering and storing energy on the over-run and in other conditions, and releasing it when starting, or accelerating sharply.