The much-anticipated new Iveco Daily van brings unsurpassed levels of innovation, efficiency, safety and performance to the South African van market, including many industry-leading technologies.

This confident statement comes from Carmelo Impelluso, Vice President at Iveco South Africa.

“The new Daily range has been redesigned from the ground up, resulting in 80% new architecture and a myriad of improvements over the preceding models. The new range, which includes both van, and single-cab or double-cab chassis variants, is available in a variety of wheelbases ranging from 3 250mm to 4 750mm.

This accommodates body fitment of up to 6 190mm on the cab chassis version, with the range’s GVM spanning between 3 600kg and 7 000kg in single and dual rear-wheel configurations (depending on model). This results in exceptional versatility for use in a wide variety of applications.”

The Daily was crowned International Van of the Year 2015 ahead of the other shortlisted finalists by a judging panel representing the top European commercial vehicle publications.

IVECO Daily – setting new benchmarks

“The new Daily range boasts no less than four market-leading features. These are: The largest volume with its capacity of 20m3; the highest horsepower rating at 205hp; the best-in-class payload of 4 174kg; and the most sophisticated full automatic transmission, the Hi-Matic ZF 8-speed,” says Iveco South Africa’s Vice President, Carmelo Impelluso.

“Combined with improved efficiency, lower servicing costs, and reduced lifecycle cost, the new range sets many new benchmarks in the South African medium commercial vehicle market.”

Powerful, fuel-efficient engines

Powering the range are two direct-injection Iveco diesel engines – a 2,3-litre and a 3-litre option.

The 2,3-litre engine features a turbocharger with a waste-gate and an intercooler, and produces 126hp at between 3 000 and 3 600rpm. Torque is rated a 320N.m between 1 800 and 2 500rpm.

The 3-litre power plant is also turbocharged, using a waste-gate system to produce 150hp power and 350N.m torque between 1 400 and 2 600rpm.

“In addition to the impressive power and torque figures of these engines, the latest Daily range is up to 5% more fuel efficient than the previous generation thanks to the adoption of low friction piston rings, the use of high-grade, low viscosity lubricants and a reduced drag coefficient, especially in van models,” says Impelluso.

Hi-Matic – an industry-leading transmission

According to Impelluso, the new Daily range introduces an industry-first with its 8-speed ZF Hi-Matic fully automatic transmission.

“This transmission provides the operator with an effortless driving experience courtesy of a self-adaptive shift strategy that results in correct gear selection and takes less than 200 milliseconds shifting between gears.”

The version of the Hi-Matic used in the Daily has been strengthened for light commercial vehicle applications and was extensively tested for the climatic conditions prevalent in South Africa. The unit features an external cooler and an independent transmission support for improved durability and cooling power.

To assist in reducing fuel consumption, the Hi-Matic features both ‘Eco’ and ‘Power’ modes. When Eco is selected, the transmission changes gears at a lower rpm, while Power mode holds the vehicle in each gear for longer for crisp acceleration when required.

Impelluso says this transmission offers the widest ratio spread of any automatic van transmission available in the market.

Operators using the new Daily van outside of urban and metropolitan environments, where minimal gear shifting is required, may opt for the 6-speed synchromesh double overdrive manual transmission.

Braking and safety

The new Daily provides excellent stopping power with disc brakes all-round. Added to the braking equation is the ESP9 (Electronic Stability Program), which incorporates Iveco Hill Holder technology to ensure that there’s no rollback when pulling away on an incline.

All Daily models also feature stability control and trailer sway mitigation, which sees the stability control intervene when instability in the trailer or caravan is detected. Other safety features of the standard ESP9 system include anti-slip regulator, adaptive load control, hydraulic rear-wheel boost, hydraulic fading compensation, roll movement intervention and roll over mitigation.

Passive safety features include both driver and passenger airbags – “a unique standard offering in the South African market,” says Impelluso.

Comfort and convenience

Heavy traffic, and start and stop driving are the norm in modern business. It is therefore essential that the driving environment is as comfortable and stress-free as possible.

Helping to provide passenger carlike comfort and manoeuvrability are a 10,5- metre turning circle for the single rear-wheel vans and a tight turning circle across the entire range.

According to Impelluso the new Quad-Leaf front suspension provides excellent vehicle control and strength at 1 900kg standard maximum load, while the Quad-Tor system, standard on the Daily 50C and Daily 70C vans, offers even more robust adopting torsion bars instead of leaf springs for an axle weight rating of 2 100kg.

The air conditioning, standard across the range, ducts conditioned air through the glove compartment and this airflow can be controlled to turn the glove compartment into a virtual fridge for the driver.

Elsewhere in the cabin are generous storage areas, including purpose-designed compartments to hold phones and tablets.

“The best Daily ever!”

The entire Iveco team is enamoured with the new possibilities that the Daily range presents.

“Since its launch in Europe last year, the new Daily has enjoyed widespread market acceptance and won the highly-coveted International Van of the Year award hands down. The market performance of the new Daily has been so phenomenal that the new production facility in Suzzara, Italy, is hard-pressed to meet demand. The new production facility produces approximately 250 new Dailys a day.

“We are very excited about this high-value offering. With the best load volume and payload in a panel van and the ability to tow a class leading 3,5 tons, we are able to give our customers the coveted ability to do more with less.

“We are not the first Iveco market to launch this excellent product. On top of the rigorous testing that the new Daily was subjected to, we also have the experience of countless hours of real-life operation in many tough environments across the world that drives our confidence that the new Daily is indeed the best Daily ever!” concludes a very confident Impelluso.