Navistar to Rebrand as International Motors
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In a rebranding that reaches back to the company’s origins, Navistar Inc. — the parent company of International Truck and school bus maker IC Bus — will on Oct. 1 adopt the new name of International Motors.
The change by the Lisle, Ill.-based manufacturer — which is owned by Germany’s Traton — is one of several changes designed to help it claim a larger piece of the domestic commercial truck market.
“After more than 120 years, we are choosing to return to our roots as International,” said Tobias Glitterstam, chief strategy and transformation officer. “International embodies determination, partnership and collaboration in meeting every challenge with a solution. Our new name and look complement the strategic changes we are making to offer enhanced customer experiences.”
That includes the launch of the My International digital interface, which will replace the current OnCommand Connection diagnostics tool and International 360 service communications tool.
International also announced the revival of captive financial services, which will be branded as International Financial.
“The return to International is an acknowledgment of our rich heritage as much as it is an investment in our promising future,” said Mathias Carlbaum, president and CEO. “The simplified brand structure, distinct visual identity, and clear strategy to more effectively engage with our customers ensure we can lay claim to another 200 years of success and signals a new phase of our company’s positioning.”
“These investments are part of our return to the position we once held,” Dan Kayser, executive vice president of commercial operations, told reporters during a media event in Naperville, near company headquarters. “We’re playing a long game, and we haven’t been able to say that in a long time. We are in this for the long play.”
Glitterstam (left) and Kayser. (Navistar)
Central to that plan is rebuilding the strength of the International brand, said Megan Troppito, director of communications and brand. She noted that International has a strong reputation in certain segments of the market, but stressed that there is room to expand.
Troppito noted that the IC Bus and Fleetrite brands will remain. Fleetrite sells replacement and remanufactured parts.
International Truck’s current Class 8 portfolio of trucks is headlined by the flagship longhaul LT Series. Also available are the RH Series regional-haul tractor and the HV and HX series vocational models.
Often rebrands come with the arrival of a new leader, shareholder demands or market disruption, Kayser said, noting, “For us, interestingly, it is all of these things.”
International on Sept. 17 launched a redesign of its HV Series trucks. Series production of the updated HV 509, HV 515, HV 609 and HV 615 models — which come equipped with the company’s S13 integrated powertrain and T14 automated manual transmission — is due to start in June 2025.
International Truck’s current Class 8 portfolio of trucks is headlined by the flagship longhaul LT Series. (Navistar)
Production of the S13 powertrain began in October 2013 at the company’s Huntsville, Ala., manufacturing plant. The powertrain will be the final internal combustion engine platform International Motors develops as Traton gears up for a future where it will only produce zero-emission vehicles.
Part of that ZEV future will include a battery-electric version of the RH tractor that’s set to debut next year, multiple company sources said.
Traton took sole control of Navistar in 2021. In March 2022, the truck maker opened the doors to a new $250 million truck manufacturing facility near San Antonio that at its grand opening already had space allocated for expansion of electric vehicle output.
The manufacturer has been working for years to reclaim market share. In 2012 it abandoned an effort to rely solely on exhaust gas recirculation technology to comply with federal emissions standards that had taken effect in 2010. Navistar was the only major on-highway engine maker to choose EGR over selective catalytic reduction. After encountering trouble with relying solely on an EGR setup for compliance with the rules, Navistar in 2012 began offering Cummins engines in its trucks that featured SCR technology. Its current in-house engines also feature SCR systems.
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In 2016 the company then known as Volkswagen Truck and Bus — the precursor to Traton — took a 16.6% stake in Navistar. That move came three decades after Navistar was formed in 1986 as a holding company for the remaining truck assets of agricultural, construction, commercial and passenger vehicles manufacturer International Harvester.
International Harvester began selling off divisions during an agricultural downturn in the 1980s, including the construction equipment division to Dresser Industries and lawn mower specialist Cub Cadet to MTD Industries. In 1984, International Harvester sold off its famed agricultural division, along with the name and logo, to Case Corp.
The International brand was first used in 1914 on the company’s trucks.
