The New Daily is here!

Built in Italy and Spain

The New Daily is built at Iveco’s plants in Suzzara, Italy, and Valladolid, Spain. Both of these plants use what’s known as the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) methodology. Significantly, WCM is all about zero defects, zero waste and zero accidents – so it’s great news for customers, the environment and staff members too.

Thoroughly tested

Prior to its April 2019 international launch, the New Daily was subjected to more than 3.5 million kilometres of durability and reliability testing. Iveco also devoted more than 900 000 engineering hours and 800 virtual and physical tests to the New Daily. Plus, 200 prototypes were built.

 

It does the job!

Commercial vehicle buyers purchase a chassis cab or van because they want a vehicle that does the job, and the New Daily doesn’t fail to deliver in this regard. With a payload capacity of up to 4.5 tonnes on the chassis cab and a volume capacity of 19.6 cubic metres in a ready-to-work panel van, the New Daily offers best-in-class payload capacity.

 

Exterior an evolution

 

The exterior is more of an evolution than a revolution; the changes are subtle. We don’t care;  the new model promises to deliver a raft of technological improvements designed to keep the Daily range at the forefront of the chassis cab and van segment. Having said this, there are some exterior features that warrant a mention. We like the new lightweight alloy wheels that contribute to optimising the payload and the LED lights that improve safety and reduce costs (as they don’t need changing for the entire lifespan of the vehicle).

Speaking of reducing costs, the bumper on the New Daily comprises three sections. This is not a new idea (we’ve seen it many times before) but it’s a really good one: assuming that you have a minor bumper bashing, you only replace the damaged bit and not the whole thing.

 

The new front grille has been extended to increase ventilation while protecting the engine and radiator.

 

Revamped interior

The new interior gets the thumbs up, with its more compact leather multifunctional steering wheel and new instrument cluster. The former means there is more space for the driver’s legs (and, dare we say it, maybe his tummy too). The instrument cluster, on the other hand, is attractive, easy to use and very easy to read.

 

Engines and transmissions

In Europe, a Euro 6 motor offering 180 and 210 hp is on offer. Not here, though (because of the diesel issues). Instead, we are getting the 2.3-litre Euro 5 engine that generates 126 hp as well as the 3.0-litre Euro 3 engine (with an output of 146 and 170 hp).

 

The really good news is that Iveco’s Hi-Matic transmission is now offered across the full Daily range for the first time in South Africa. It’s been around for ages; quite why we haven’t got it before is a mystery. Developed with ZF, we first encountered this automatic eight-speed transmission at the IAA Show in September 2014. At the time it was already available in Jeep, Maserati, Bentley and Rolls-Royce cars. We were told that it offered a 4% reduction in fuel consumption and a 4 kg weight saving (versus the previous generation AGile gearbox). It’s a sound, solid gearbox that is clearly ideally suited to inexperienced drivers. Maintenance costs are obviously reduced too.

 

Superb safety features

We all know how dangerous our roads are in South Africa. So it’s good to see that the New Daily comes with a full house of safety features. In addition to the LED lights that we’ve already mentioned, there’s an electronic stability programme, a lane departure warning system and driver and passenger airbags. 

 

Free service plan

Incredibly, Iveco is offering a free five-year/120 000 km  service plan with the New Daily. That’s not the norm in this segment. It will certainly give operators peace of mind.

 

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