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“There are
several reasons why China has an important role to play
in the global automotive industry: not only it is a fast
growing market, but also a large-scale one, where growth
rate means huge volume increase. Also, China can become
a platform for global industrial and commercial
operations. Finally, China has the potential to offer
manufacturers a good quality suppliers’ base, at
competitive costs”.
Iveco CEO, Paolo Monferino, made this statement to
stress the central role of China in the Iveco global
strategy on October 27th at the Naveco premises in
Nanjing in the occasion of the take-over of the new
company’s General Manager, Mr Zhou Liang. The event
celebrated the merger of Naveco and Yuejin into the New
Naveco and involved about 2,000 employees.
Naveco is the name of the joint venture between Iveco
and Nanjing Automotive Corporation (NAC), established in
1996 to produce the Chinese version of the Daily, a
premium product in the top segment of light commercial
vehicles and minibuses. New Naveco has integrated Yuejin
into Naveco operations.
The Chairman of NAC, Mr Wang Haoliang, stressed that “We
are happy to see the great support of both Iveco and NAC
with the common effort of all our employees on the New
Naveco. We are very proud that sales volumes of Iveco
branded light commercial vehicles have dramatically
increased in China and that Yuejin improved light truck
is widely accepted by the main light truck customers. We
see an open and constructive new Naveco full of energy
and innovation. In this event we jointly celebrate the
cooperation between Iveco and NAC as well as Naveco
continuous improvement and development”.
The event in Nanjing also provided the opportunity to
recall a glorious page in the Italian automotive
history: an expedition carried out by Itala, that,
one-hundred years ago, built a symbolic bridge between
China and Europe. The Italian car won a two-month race
from Beijing to Paris in which five European cars
participated. One hundred years later the very same car
and a convoy of Iveco vehicles celebrated this
unprecedented challenge.
The vehicles, upon leaving Italy, headed to Paris, went
to the principal European capital cities before taking
the final direction through Eastern Europe, Russia and
Mongolia until arriving in Beijing on 20th September.
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