Caterpillar Inc. and Navistar International will restructure aspects of their NC2 joint venture, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar. The companies meanwhile are developing a cab-over-engine vocational truck to be sold overseas.


The two companies formed NC2 in 2008 to develop and market the first Cat-branded on-road trucks outside North America. In a new brand licensing agreement, both International- and Cat-branded trucks will be distributed through respective dealers outside of the U.S. A separate operation developed the CT660 on/off-road vocational truck for North America.

"This next phase will move the relationship to a structure and business model that will be similar to the business relationship we have with Navistar for our North American vocational trucks," said George Taylor, director of Caterpillar's Global On-Highway Truck Group. North American Cat vocational trucks are produced in Navistar facilities under a branding alliance.

"As we have looked at the success of the Cat vocational truck launch in North America, we believe that a similar business model for commercial trucks for the rest of the world makes the most sense for our customers."

In addition to the current CT660 conventional-cab vocational trucks for North American customers, Caterpillar and Navistar will develop a new, cab-over-engine Cat vocational truck that would be sold globally under a new, nonbinding memorandum of understanding. The COE truck will be called the CT650, Taylor said.

"This new relationship streamlines the organization and will help us move faster and more efficiently," said Phil Christman, NC2's president. "Customers and dealers in the global markets where NC2 has established distribution will build on their early successes with no interruption and with the added benefit of getting products sooner."

The Caterpillar-Navistar business relationship has evolved over many decades. In addition to the truck business, Cat currently provides remanufacturing services to Navistar and is also a key supplier of engine components for certain Navistar engines. Navistar currently supplies engines to Cat for certain power generation and marine applications.