US Marine Corps International Vehicle
Navistar International Corporation is America's largest manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty diesel trucks. Until 1986, Navistar was known as International Harvester, a leading manufacturer of agricultural and construction machinery, with 47 manufacturing plants comprising 38 million square feet. Years of dramatic financial losses, however, forced the company to sell off these primary businesses to focus on the production of diesel trucks, a move that necessitated the lay off of thousands of workers and resulted in a reduction in sales by more than 50 percent. With a new name and a new "diamond road" symbol, the company looked forward to more successful years. Although the company ranked 126th among Fortune magazine's top 500 industrial companies in 1993, Navistar had yet to turn an annual profit in the 1990s.
In 1986, Harvester was renamed Navistar International Corporation, a name that management hoped would reflect its new focus on high technology. The company also left the gasoline powered truck market, relying primarily on its line of diesel powered medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Navistar manufactured diesel engines for the medium trucks and used engines from other companies for the heavier trucks.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Navistar held one-fourth of the heavy- and medium-duty truck market (the leading share) but continued to face several challenges.
Recently, General Motors agreed to sell its entire medium-duty business to Navistar International by the end of 2008. In the non-binding memorandum, Navistar would acquire all associated assets, property rights, and intellectual property related to the GMC TopKick and Chevrolet Kodiak medium-duty trucks, meaning Navistar would be responsible for selling, servicing, and manufacturing the trucks. At this stage, there are no plans to disrupt the relationship with Isuzu, who supplies the Duramax turbodiesel engines, but it shouldn't be too long before a full selection of International engines is offered for the two medium-duty trucks. Admittedly, this is not a large market for GM and we've heard it was shopping it around for about a year. As it stands, GM looks to make a little bit of money out of the deal and Navistar International will get more exposure for its brand. Whether Navistar will be getting into a broader range of medium-duty trucks or even step into the deeper light-duty segment remains to be seen. At least for now, we still have the Kodiak 4x4. The merger of McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Deering Harvester Company in 1902 resulted in the formation of the International Harvester Company (IH) of Chicago, Illinois, which over the next three-quarters of a century evolved to become a diversified manufacturer of farming equipment, construction equipment, gas turbines, trucks, buses, and related components.
Today, Navistar produces International brand military vehicles through its affiliate Navistar Defense.
