The news came in comments made by Altavilla to the ANSA news agency and is set to affect 1,075 staff across these plants. Altavilla told the agency that its factories at Chambery in France and Graz in Austria as well as a trio in Germany in Weisweill, Goerlitz and Ulm will all close down. The Ulm site will have a lifeline though as it will be handed the role as a centralised production centre.

"These are painful closures but they will boost our overall business. We have not however cut our investment," Altavilla claimed. "When the markets recover we will be ready," he believes. Iveco manufactures a wide portfolio of products from the Daily light van through to the Stralis tractor, as well as a range of specialist and military vehicles.

Two months ago the truck maker announced that the specialist Iveco Magirus Camiva plant at Saint Alban Leysse in the South East of France, which manufacturers an array of fire fighting application equipment and employs 171 staff, would be closed.