Iveco Massif, 2008
Iveco is one of the few makers worldwide to offer a full range of all-wheel-drive vehicles. With Iveco Massif, the new 4x4, the Italian company breaks into a completely new professional transport segment, harking back to the memory of a glorious ancestor that won Fiat Group a prominent place in the history of off-road vehicles: the Fiat Campagnola.
The Iveco Massif signals Iveco's first entry into the light off-road vehicle segment, and with two body styles. The spirit of the Massif follows in the tyre tracks of the Fiat Campagnola, the Italian Army standard-issue jeep designed in 1951 that became an icon in Italy in an age when the country still lacked a modern road infrastructure. The Campagnola was an important symbol for postwar Italy and the reconstruction of the 1950s, still fresh in the Italian collective memory. But the Campagnola meant even more than this: in the white livery of the Popemobile, it is inseparably associated with the appearances of John Paul II, a Pope who ushered in a new way of reaching out to the faithful. Still in white, but now bearing the UN insignia, the vehicle contributed to a large number of international peacekeeping missions in every continent of the world. From its ancestor, the Iveco Massif has taken the robust versatility and workmanlike appearance of a vehicle designed for demanding tasks, but without losing sight of operating economy.
Off Road Working Vehicle
The new Iveco Massif is a rugged 4 wheel drive vehicle for serious off-road applications. The vehicle is based on the structure that was used for the first sports off-road vehicles, before they were "urbanised" into sport utility vehicles, mainly for on-road use. It signals a return to the roots of 4x4 utility vehicles, removing the off-road/on-road compromise: this is, in short, a serious, professional, off-road workhorse and it intends to be seen as such.
Iveco Massif is a genuine, go-anywhere off-road vehicle with high performance and able to tackle extreme off-road terrain with ease. It boasts a fully-laden gradeability of 100%, an approach angle of 50°, a departure angle of 30° and a ramp angle of 24°. Its fording capability in standard trim is 500 mm and its under-axle ground clearance is 200 mm with standard wheels and tyres. The four-wheel-drive can be disengaged to provide rear wheel drive for optimised on-road fuel economy.