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Iveco could be the next player in a corner of the ute market after the Italian brand has shown interest in expanding its customer base.
Iveco, an Italian brand best known for its light and medium trucks, has confirmed that it is keen to capture a portion of the popular dual-cab ute market, currently dominated by the Ford Ranger and Toytoa HiLux.
Following the launch of its updated Daily truck and van range, National Manager of Iveco Australia national manager James Johnson said the brand would jump at the opportunity of expanding its customer base.
"I mean, [entering more into the ute market] is not a bad idea. If you look at it, it might be a plumber or something, like why are you driving a ute? When it's the same money to get yourself a van, put stuff in it, and it's secure," Johnson said.
"While it's not the lifestyle vehicle that they want, you do get a lot of people buying these vans, and they might race motorbikes or go carts, or they might have like a camper."
As Johnson pointed out, a light-truck or van will have more practical utility for load carrying, which comes at the cost of performance and manoeuvrability when compared to ute due to larger size.
Light trucks and vans also lack the curb appeal afforded to high-end utes like the Ford Ranger Wildtrak, Isuzu D-Max X-Terrain, and Toyota HiLux SR5, nor do they offer more advanced powertrains like the plug-in hybrid systems seen on the BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon Alpha.
While Iveco does not have metrics on its customer base split of private versus fleet sales, Johnson said the current strategy is expand beyond commercial-usage buyers to sell to rental businesses.
"We sell these to rental companies; those companies have the weekend warriors who were moving apartments or what have you," Johnson said.
"[Rental companies] is really where our push is to grow the cab-chassis side of things, and we've been successful."
Iveco currently offers just the one vehicle, which can be driven on a standard car licence in Australia, the Daily. Still, it is available in several configurations, such as 42C (the smallest van of the range), or a 50C – available in several different lengths, as a single cab-chassis or a dual cab chassis, as well as the option to uprate the GVM to light rigid.
The term "car-like" is used heavily to describe the updated model, fitted with equipment such as Apple CarPlay, lane assist, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), a wireless phone charger, and push-button start.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
