International ramps up ProStar push

International Trucks hopes to be selling around 500 examples of its ProStar per annum within five years, with a series of regional 'Roadshow' tours helping to cement the brand's reintroduction to the local market and showcase the model's attributes before a largely regional customer base.

During a recent road test of the International ProStar in Melbourne, Trucksales.com.au spoke with Paul Dinicol, IVECO Trucks Australia Limited, Key Account Manager – International Trucks, about IVECO's hopes and aims for the new model, which has been available here under the IVECO Trucks umbrella since the 2017 Brisbane Truck Show.

"I think this year we'd like to target somewhere around 140 to 150 trucks, with a target of 400 trucks being around three years out, say in 2021," he said.

"I think if we can build it into 2020 where we're in the 200s, and then into the threes to 400 in that year, the five-year plan would be to build this up to around 500 trucks a year, and I don't think that they're unachievable numbers, having looked at what our competitors are doing."

Dinicol said around 75 examples have been sold since IVECO launched the International ProStar at the 2017 Brisbane Truck Show, after the Melbourne-based CNH Industrial brand took over distribution of International from exiting Cat Trucks concern, Navistar Auspac.

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IVECO says it's now focusing its efforts on regional and rural customers with its rolling Roadshow demonstration tour.

The inaugural Roadshow concluded just recently, with a superbly turned out ProStar with single tri-axle trailer visiting some 17 prospective customers in central Victoria – a tour that took the truck to Shepparton, Numurkah, Corowa, Cobram, Wodonga and Wangaratta, as well as into Albury in New South Wales.

Further trips will see the ProStar Roadshow truck head to Mildura, then Victoria's Gippsland regions and Western Districts, followed by trips to New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

"Building the business from a key account point of view and from a brand point of view almost go hand in hand," said Dinicol.

"Understanding that our key accounts for a North American truck are substantially regional businesses means we're really got to run that sort of campaign, along with the dealers in various areas," he added.

Dinicol said the initial Roadshow had been a resounding success.

"Those 17 visits landed 10 demonstrations opportunities, which we will begin in the last week of this month," he said.

"There's been a little bit of negativity pushed out probably in the media that it [International Trucks] is not going to be around, that International is going to go, but that's far from the case. There's a very long-standing arrangement between the two brands [International and IVECO/CNH Industrial] and International in the US are supporting this very heavily. It's just a matter of engaging the end user."

In addition to an eye-catching paint job and a tasteful array of polished stainless trim, the International ProStar Roadshow truck also sports 'Transtar' decals beneath its cab doors, providing a visual link to International's strong heritage in this country.

"Transtar is a name that's been used by International for many decades, and the last time it appeared was on the last of the Transtar 4700 model, around 1999," said Dinicol.

"We've used that name just to try and pick up on some of that emotion. They [Navistar] have continued to use the Transtar name in America and I would dearly like to pick it up and follow on from that."

In a similar vein, the next ProStar to the added to the Roadshow fleet is an extended cab model which bears 'S-Line' decals, harking back to another iconic line of International trucks. That particular truck is a day cab model with a small rest area behind the seating, but Mr Dinicol said IVECO Trucks was also looking at bringing the largest ProStar cab to Australia.

"There's the 56-inch sleeper that we would aim to put into perhaps the grain carriers – that's in our planning for late this year," he said.

Also in the pipeline is a higher level of safety technology, with airbags and the Bendix Wingman Fusion suite of safety tech, encompassing things like an electronic stability program, collision mitigation, lane departure warning and adaptive cruise control, all on the table. That alone would unlock the door to many operators who demand a mandatory level of safety technology in their trucks for WHS/COR reasons.

With the heavy-duty truck market in particular at record levels and the 2019 Brisbane Truck Show looming, conditions are right for the International ProStar to flourish, said Dinicol.

"This is a very, very good truck and the underpinnings and the brand itself are not things we need to introduce to the market," he said.

"We've got everything going for us. We've got a good engine partner in Cummins and the rest of the components in this truck have been around for decades. We don't need to see that part, it's really just about getting people to drive the vehicle."