Navistar, CAT Form Joint Venture

WARRENVILLE, Ill. (AP) -- Navistar International Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. on Thursday announced a joint venture to begin selling commercial on-highway trucks outside North America.

The 50-50 joint venture, NC2 Global LLC, will manufacture and distribute trucks in international markets, with an initial focus on Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and Turkey, Navistar said.

NC2's product lineup will include both conventional and cab-over truck designs and will be sold under both the "CAT" and "International" brands, Navistar said.

Executives from both companies will steer the joint venture, which will be headquartered in Chicago. Al Saltiel, Navistar's vice president of marketing, will be NC2's president. Bob Iacullo, business resource manager for Caterpillar's infrastructure product development division, was named the joint venture's chief financial officer.

Both companies have each named three representatives each to the joint venture's board of directors.

Separately, Navistar said both companies continue to work on designing and developing a new heavy-duty vocational truck for the North American market. The trucks will be manufactured at Navistar's Garland, Texas, facility and will be sold through Caterpillar's North American dealer network.

Additionally, Navistar reported fiscal third-quarter results below analyst estimates and lowered its full-year earnings projection. Its shares tumbled $3.76, or 8.2 percent, to $41.92 shortly after the market opened. The stock has ranged from $15.24 to $63.49 over the past year.