Truck industry observers have long speculated about the first takeover of a European OEM by an Asian Group—with IVECO, following the spin-off from CNH Industrial in 2022, very much in the focus of the speculation.
The historic moment arrived with the announcement of Tata Motors’ €3.8 billion ($4.4 billion) all cash voluntary tender offer to acquire IVECO’s Commercial Vehicle business (excluding its defence division), on July 30, 2025. The transaction is contingent on the sale of IVECO’s defence arm, Iveco Defence Vehicles (IDV), which is being divested separately to Leonardo SpA for €1.7 billion ($2.0 billion). Completion is expected by early 2026.
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The planned arrangement aims to preserve IVECO’s autonomy: its headquarters remain in Turin, its workforce and industrial footprint are protected by binding non-financial covenants (no layoffs, and no plant closures for at least two years), and the existing board structure will be largely retained with independent oversight.
Once complete, the deal will create a global Commercial Vehicle powerhouse, with combined annual revenues of around €22 billion ($26 billion) and a global production footprint spanning Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
According to GlobalData’s analysis, the merger will create a new grouping on a par with TRATON and Volvo Group in terms of global Truck market share and annual production capacity. Indeed, a combination of US market decline and stable demand in India has resulted in a regional rebalancing that would have driven up Tata/IVECO’s combined share of the global market (excluding China) to near the top of the ranking during the first half of 2025—second only to global market leader, Daimler.
From a product and geographical viewpoint, Tata’s dominance in India and Southeast Asia is highly complementary to IVECO’s presence in Europe and Latin America, with no significant overlap in product lines or manufacturing geography. As IVECO and Tata compete in different markets, there is little danger in this scenario of a combined market share erosion. The geographical spread distinguishes it from previous European Heavy-Duty (HD) mergers (MAN/Scania, Volvo/Renault).
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By GlobalDataTata also gains access to IVECO’s FPT Industrial powertrain technologies, including electric, hydrogen, and natural-gas platforms, providing it with scope to expand its net zero ambitions.
From a strategic point of view, the acquisition is transformative in elevating Tata from a predominantly regional player to a genuine global OEM, with immediate access to European and Latin American markets and distribution networks. In the longer term, combining R&D, procurement and production across regions will also potentially enable better cost leverage and smoother responses to cyclical demand swings across global Commercial Vehicle markets.
The acquisition of IVECO marks a watershed moment for Tata Motors and represents the most significant strategic realignment of the European Truck industry since the merger of Scania and MAN under the TRATON umbrella in 2021: the first takeover of a major European Truck OEM by an Asian group.
While Asian manufacturers have, thus far, expanded globally through greenfield ventures or partnerships, none have previously acquired a top-tier European Commercial Vehicle brand outright. IVECO, with its deep engineering roots in Italy, Germany, and Spain, and a legacy dating back over a century, is one of Europe’s core industrial Truck manufacturers.
The move reflects the growing confidence and capital strength of Asian industrial groups, particularly India’s Tata Group, with two landmark automotive acquisitions in Europe—first with Jaguar Land Rover in 2008, and now IVECO in 2025. It also signals a shift in global Truck market dynamics, as Asian players move from regional dominance to global consolidation. The implications are far-reaching: cross-continental technology transfer, access to EU markets, and potentially new alliances in alternative powertrains are now all firmly on the horizon.
Zita Zigan, Director, Global Commercial Vehicle Forecasts
This article was first published on GlobalData’s dedicated research platform, the Automotive Intelligence Center.
