Iveco's trucks roll over competition.

Iveco's trucks roll over competition

James R. Bostic was vice president and general manager of an International Harvester Co. division when someone mentioned Iveco Trucks of North America.

He had been head of marketing for the Oldsmobile division of General Motors Corp. In 1976 he was Marketing Communications Executives International's marketing man of the year.

But he had not heard of the Blue Bell-based company. Bostic recalled recently:

"I thought, 'What's Iveco? Is that a disease?'"

That was before 1981. In December of that year he was named president of the firm, which is a division of Iveco B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary …