The history of the Iveco Daily began only three years after the creation of the Iveco brand. In 1978, the first Iveco Daily was created. The van was powered by a 2.5-liter diesel engine and generated 72 hp. First-generation Iveco Daily, like its competitors, also had a classic frame-based design, but it offered far more possibilities. The van was also characterized by an above average load capacity, its total weight was up to 5 tons!
The 1st generation Iveco Daily was a great success and soon new body, drive and suspension versions were released. In 1984, Iveco presented a four-wheel drive van which met customer requirements even in the toughest conditions. The Iveco Daily 4x4 model was not the only novelty. Year later in 1985, Iveco presented TurboDaily, one of the most popular models in the history of the brand. According to the names of Iveco, TurboDaily was equipped with a turbocharger, which increased the van's power from the previously offered 72 hp to 95 hp. In 1986, Iveco presented the prototype Iveco Daily with electric drive!
For the obvious reasons, the first generation of Iveco Daily was also offered under different brands that were part of the group. In this way, Iveco didn’t want to lose customers who were attached to such brands as Alfa Romeo, Fiat or OM. As a result, extremely popular Iveco Daily van was also offered as: Alfa Romeo AR8, OM Grinta and Fiat Daily. The sale of these models was lower than expected, which is why subsequent generations of Daily were offered exclusively by the Iveco brand.
As a curiosity, we can add that the first generation of Iveco Daily was also offered as Zastava Rival, which sales oscillated around 3,000 units per year. Unfortunately, due to the effects of the war in Yugoslavia / Serbia, production dropped to 1,000. Later production was close completely. The sale was based on a license that Zastava bought from Fiat to produce Daily vans.
