Iveco is building a factory in Romania where it will produce military trucks

By Emea Riga
Iveco Defense Vehicles has started the construction of a factory on about 9,000 square meters in Petrești, Dâmbovița County, where it will partially build some of the over 2,900 military trucks for the Romanian forces for which it has signed a framework agreement with the Ministry of National Defense (MApN). The first contract of over 216 million euros was signed with the Army and provides for a tranche of 942 military trucks, and starting with truck number 301, all should be produced in the country.
In Petrești, Dâmbovița, near the A1 Bucharest – Pitești highway, Iveco Defense Vehicles marked on Tuesday the start of works at a future factory where some of the elements of military trucks that will be assembled in Romania for the Army will be produced.
The army signed at the end of 2019 a contract of over 216 million euros for 942 IVECO trucks, the first subsequent contract in a larger agreement that provides for the delivery of over 2,900 trucks and military platforms. “Starting with the 301st truck, they will be produced in Romania”, said at the beginning of the year the Minister of Defense, Nicolae Ciucă, who speaks of an offset of 80%.
In Petrești, Iveco wants to produce some of the truck’s components and will also set up production lines.
“Armored and unarmored cabins related to vehicles and their integration with all equipment will be made. All related industrial operations will be performed, from the completion of the basic chassis to the final technical inspection. The investment in Petrești is a first step that we intend to complete in the shortest possible time, in about 6 months “, Iveco representatives declared on Tuesday, at an event attended by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, Minister of Economy and Minister of Defense .
The factory, which will cover an area of 9,000sqm, with a production capacity of about 440 trucks per year, is composed of three production lines with 25 work areas, a complete line of tinsmithing and painting with 9 work areas, a finishing line with 7 work areas as well as spaces for logistics, testing, quality control and final acceptance with the Ministry of National Defense. The lot of land on which the factory is located, of 45,000 sq m, will allow us a sustainable development and the expansion of these production activities in the near future “, the IVECO representatives also specified.
Over the next four years, Iveco will deliver 942 military trucks and wheeled transport platforms in various configurations under a contract signed on the last day of last year. The contract with a value of over 216 million euros (excluding VAT) is the first subsequent contract in a larger agreement that provides for the delivery of over 2,900 trucks and military platforms concluded with Iveco.
“IVECO trucks were purchased in several sequences,” Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca said in an interview with Army Time in February.
“We had a sequence, a subsequent contract, to speak more concretely, in which we purchased 173 such means, later, when the technical conditions were created to be able to carry out the procedure and conclude a framework contract for the acquisition of both of the trucks, as well as of the derived platforms necessary for the endowment of the Romanian Army, it happened and today we are talking about a contract of approximately 2,900 trucks, in a first agreement of 942 trucks ”, explains Ciucă.
According to a statement issued in January by Iveco Defense Vehicles, the subsequent contract signed with the Ministry of Defense provides for four types of military vehicles from the Iveco High Mobility range – 4×4, 6×6, 8×8 and 8×8 Prime Mover – which in turn will be divided into 16 different variants. , with a third having an armored cabin.
The company also mentions that the Romanian Army also purchased 57 military trucks from Iveco in 2015 and another 173 military trucks in 2017.
The current contract is part of a framework agreement signed with Iveco following a mega-tender launched by the Ministry of National Defense in July 2018.