Area manager for IVECO Gianfranco Arno, (locally represented by UCIM Co.) was recently in Malta to analyse and understand further the transportation realities and requirements of the Maltese commercial community.

Over the last 30 years, Iveco has developed a product range wide as few manufacturers can feature: light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, off-road trucks, city and intercity buses and coaches as well as special vehicles for applications such as fire fighting, off-road missions, defence and civil protection.

During his visit in Malta, Mr Arno met several key firms, from companies which operate both on a local and also on an international level.

Anthony Mamo, Director at UCIM said that IVECO’s range of vehicles complements the rather extensive selection of commercial vehicles which we offer and provide to the local market.

Iveco are currently also investing a lot in the research and development of new vehicles which are aimed at maintaining low CO2 emissions. Part of this exercise was the launch of ten Diesel-Electric Hybrid Daily vans that will conduct an extended field evaluation by FedEx Express, the world’s largest express air delivery company, in Milan and Turin, Italy.

The new system will serve to reduce annual Diesel fuel consumption by about 6000 litres with a consequent reduction in CO2 emissions of about 15 tonnes compared to conventional power train vehicles.

Mr Mamo said that during their meetings in Malta, this commitment was highlighted throughout the various meeting that Mr Arno held.

In fact, it transpires that IVECO is committed to the development of this technology and the next step is to industrialise it to make it affordable to our customers.

In order to respond to a consistent customer demand, Iveco will introduce hybrid power train technology in our vehicle production facilities by the end of 2009.