Navistar International Corporation and Caterpillar Inc have closed a joint venture transaction resulting in a new company, NC2 Global LLC, to serve the global commercial truck market. Navistar and Caterpillar first announced plans to form a joint venture in June 2008 and have identified the leadership team of the new entity that will establish its headquarters in the Chicago IL area.
Al Saltiel, president of NC2, brings a range of global distribution and marketing experience to NC2. As vice-president of marketing and head of Navistar's marketing efforts since 2004, Saltiel was responsible for all brand, product, and pricing strategy. Before joining Navistar, he held senior marketing positions at Sony Electronics, Jaguar, and Ford's Premier Automotive Group.
Bob Iacullo has been named chief financial officer for NC2. Formerly business resource manager for Caterpillar's Infrastructure Product Development Division, Iacullo also held several executive positions in finance at Motorola.
Navistar and Caterpillar also have named business unit directors for product development, sales and marketing, dealer operations, production, supply chain, and parts and service.
The companies each have named three people to NC2's board of directors. Caterpillar Group President Doug Oberhelman will serve as chairman of the board, and Navistar Truck Group President Dee Kapur has been named lead director from Navistar.
This 50/50 joint venture will develop, manufacture, and distribute commercial trucks with an initial focus on markets including Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey. NC2's product line will feature both conventional and cabover truck designs and will be sold under both the CAT and International (Navistar) brands.
Separately, Navistar and Caterpillar continue to work on design and development of a new proprietary, purpose-built, heavy-duty CAT vocational truck for the North American market. The trucks, manufactured in Navistar's Garland TX facility, will be sold and serviced through the CAT North American Dealer network. Caterpillar vocational trucks are scheduled for full production in mid-2011.