The Sixth China International Recreational Vehicle Exposition opened in Beijing Exhibition Center between June 23 and June 25, 2017. On the day of its opening ceremony, IVECO’s cooperative body builder in China, BC ROYAL signed a purchase agreement with Baodi Shengjin concerning 140 imported New Daily RVs, which is undisputedly a major order in the field of high-end RVs.

　　Business Director of IVECO (China) Commercial Vehicle Sales Co., Ltd., Tommaso Croce told the reporter of YUNSHUREN when interviewed by the latter that IVECO is a global leader in manufacturing commercial vehicles with lots of key technologies and configurations which represent the current most advanced level in Europe. IVECO puts extraordinary emphasis on its development in China market.

IVECO New Daily Attains Breakthrough in RV Market

　　The imported IVECO New Daily is equipped with suspended seat, air suspension, new air conditioning with manual or automatic control system, which make it as comfortable as sedan cars; the ESP9 hi-tech configuration, the multi-functional steering wheel and the class exclusive HI-Matic 8-speed full-automatic gearbox bring drivers and passengers extraordinary driving and riding experience; the body is in firm structure, adopting general and modular products. It owns 15 types of speed ratio and is reprogrammable, adapting to RV modification for multiple purposes and under multiple working conditions so as to meet the diversified needs of users.

　　The sale volume of IVECO Import New Daily is more than 600 by now, among which two thirds are those of RV. Tommaso Croce disclosed, “With a gigantic market and a huge population, the market of commercial vehicles in China is developing quite quickly. As a result of GDP growth, more vacation time and increasing demands for leisure tourism, there appears a large market potential for RV. Taking European market as a reference, if China’s RV market reaches only half of the penetration rate of RV in Europe, the sale volume will be quite considerable. It would have a market volume 10 times as large as that of European RV market.  ”

　　As a response to whether new sales strategy will be adopted as well for IVECO RV products, Tommaso Croce answered:”’Rental in lieu of Sale’ model in RV sales has been in effect in Europe 10-15 years before. Since each year, even a retiree is only able to use RV for around one month. Therefore the model of ‘Rental in lieu of Sale’ propels the popularization of RV. This, having a significance of strategic reference for China market, may well be the path China market will take in the future. ”

IVECO New Daily is Orientated at High-end Modified Vehicle

　　The imported New Dailys started to arrive in China as late as around April and May 2016 and received wide acclaims from modification factories and users. As the IVECO imported model is sold at a pretty high price compare to the local competitors, plus the tariff levied on vehicles imported from Europe, the imported model is mainly used in fields that the value of vehicle body is higher, such as medical, fire engine, emergent telecommunication command vehicle, satellite TV mobile control van. These customers require robust and reliable chassis and have higher demand in the comfort and maneuverability in driving.

　　Tommaso Croce emphasized the imported model of IVECO New Daily is mainly positioned at high-end users and its customers are those who show their interests in investing in high-value chassis and vehicle bodies. At present, body builders cooperating with IVECO Import have covered all around China, mostly in eastern China and Shanghai as well as central Chinese regions bordering thereon. Body builders of telecommunication command vehicles are mainly located in Chongqing and Nanjing while body builders of police vehicles and ambulances mostly come from Guangdong and Zhejiang.

　　Viewed in terms of market prospect, Tommaso Croce thought, the wide-body light bus market where Daily belongs will grow faster than other market segments, for this kind of bus is able to better meet the needs in freight transport with some advanced technologies and configurations. Take safety for instance, as it has front engine hood, it is safer than Japanese-style light duty truck; it is also more advanced in its comfort, fuel efficiency. In this sense the market segment of wide-body light bus grows faster than other segments, in an attempt to seize the market share held by Japanese light trucks.

　　NAVECO, a JV of IVECO in China, just previewed a new model in this year’s Shanghai Automobile Expo. When asked about whether this will have any impact upon imported IVECO, Tommaso Croce replied: “NAVECO new product is very good, with cutting edge technologies from IVECO targeting mainstream market. The imported New Daily is made in Italy and is equipped with the latest technology in Europe with an eye on China’s high-end imported vehicle market, so it can better satisfy the need of customers from high-end imported market segment. We believe the New Daily imported from Europe is able to broaden the extensive application of IVECO in modification field, better satisfy Chinese customers’ needs for high-end commercial vehicles and meanwhile support the Daily made by NAVECO from the brand image. ”

IVECO Import’ s Business Layout in China

　　At present IVECO Import has three pilars. The first is New Daily, about which many applications have been developed in cooperation with China’s modification factories. Among these applications RV is the most important and has the best development momentum;

　　The second is medium duty truck Eurocargo, mainly used in firefighting application with a sound market achievement. What follows will be IVECO China plans to usher Truck of Year 2016 -New Eurocargo into China Market. The new model has great variance from its design to its engine.

　　The next is the imported long-haul tractor Stralis. Besides, IVECO China is expected to introduce new Stralis tractor to answer to the implementation of State = 6 * ROMANVIemission regulation.

　　This purchase order of 140 New Dailys could be reckoned as another breakthrough in RV field. The sale of New Dailys in 2017 is expected to reach 800. Tommaso Croce explained:”Although the sale of imported commercial vehicles held a proportion of not exceeding 1% against China’s gigantic market of locally made commercial vehicles, IVECO still has a lot of opportunities to explore in imported commercial vehicle market.”