Navistar history

In 1907, Harvester introduced a new piece of farm equipment called the auto wagon, a high-wheeled, rough vehicle designed to carry a farmer, his family, and his produce over rutted mud roads to the marketplace.

By 1908 Harvester had 75,000 employees and owned iron mines, coal mines and acres of forest.

By 1910 the company was the 4th largest in the United States

By 1912, more than 36,000 dealers in 38 countries were selling McCormick products.

Although Harvester suffered a huge loss during the 1917 Russian Revolution when its Russian interests were taken over by the new government, the company had a number of strong years.

In the 1920’s the economy was expanding, new roads were built for trucks, and the international demand for agricultural equipment seemed endless.

Navistar Begins the Acquisition of AmTran The company had been making school buses with the help of third party coach builders since 1922.

International Harvester began experimenting as early as 1923, but none of the company’s or the competitor’s models succeeded until 20 years later.

Harvester continued to manufacture everything farmers could possibly need (in the late 1930’s, for example, it would launch a line of walk-in freezers) while diversifying into other fields.

In 1940, Harvester accepted $80 million in defense contracts from the government.

That compared poorly with the 1941 earnings of $30.6 million on $346.6 sales.

A mechanical cotton-picker, introduced in 1942, sold well, as did a self-propelled combine and pickup baler.

The Cotton Picker The McCormick-Deering H-10-H Cotton Picker, introduced in 1943, was the first practical mechanical cotton picker.

High taxes and a concentrated research effort cut profits; in 1945 the company reported $24.4 million profit on $622 million in sales.

Furthermore, the company's overall market changed, and, by 1948, farm equipment accounted for less than half of the company's total sales.

These new units and a capital improvement program improved profits, which peaked at $66.7 million in 1950, representing a performance that Harvester would not match for nine years due to an overextended budget, conservative management, and intransigent unions.

In 1955, Harvester sold its line of refrigeration equipment but kept its other losing ventures and failed to modernize antiquated plants.

Throughout the 1960’s profits declined as the company used more and more capital and went deeper and deeper into debt.

In 1961, Harvester re-entered the consumer market with a jeep called the Scout and a small lawn and garden tractor named the Cub Cadet.

Public Company Incorporated: March 1966 as International HarvesterEmployees: 15,000Sales: $3.374 billionMarket Value: $1.718 billionStock Index: New York

Ozanne, Robert W., A Century of Labor-Management Relations at McCormick and International Harvester, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967.

In 1968, Cyrus H. McCormick’s grandnephew, Brooks McCormick, took charge of the company, closing several inefficient plants, including the famed McCormick Works in Chicago.

Although these plants began to work more closely during the 1970’s, Harvester’s construction products were still sold under several brand names and competed against each other.

That year, after recording its first annual profit since 1979, chief financial officer James Cotting petitioned investors for a 110 million share, $471 million stock offering.

When McCardell resigned in 1982, industry experts predicted that the company would soon file for bankruptcy.

”International Harvester in Russia: The Washington-St Petersburg Connection?” by Fred V. Carstensen and Richard Hume Werking, in Business History Review 57 (Boston), Autumn 1983.

But the largest, and almost unthinkable happened in 1984 when the 153 year old agricultural business was sold to the Tennaco subsidiary of Case.

The sale of its agricultural line to Tenneco for $488 million in 1985 helped the company reduce its long-term debt to less than $1 billion.

Navistar International Corporation, formerly (until 1986) International Harvester Company, leading American producer of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and for many years a major manufacturer of farm and construction equipment.

International Trucks Announces the Thousand Series Line In 1987, a new truck, the 8300 was introduced.

In 1991, the final remnant of International in the automotive segment was sold off, as the Scout and Light Truck parts business was sold to Scout/Light Line Distributors, Inc.

While these investments brought product and production improvements, they did not result in profits; in 1994, Navistar had still not recorded an annual net income and had reported losses $889 million.

By April of 1995, the sale of the remaining two-thirds was complete.

Global Expansion Continues In 1998, Navistar moved the manufacturing of the cab-over-engine, International® 9800 highway tractor to Brazil.

After nearly a century of business in Chicago, Navistar announced its plans on 30 September 2000 to leave the city and relocate its corporate offices to west suburban Warrenville, Illinois.

In January 2006, the company declared it would not file its form 10-K annual report with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on time.

In 2007, Navistar’s International Truck and Engine Corporation became the first company to enter hybrid commercial truck production, with the International DuraStar Hybrid diesel-electric truck.

The three XT trucks were sold until 2008.

Clarke joined Navistar Inc. in January 2010 as president of Navistar Asia Pacific.

In March 2011, Navistar announced the move to Lisle.

In August 2012, Navistar announced it would use Cummins engines and SCR technology.

In February 2013, Mahindra And Mahindra Ltd purchased the Navistar Group’s stake in Mahindra Navistar Automotives Ltd (MNAL) and Mahindra Navistar Engines Pvt Ltd (MNEPL).”

In February 2014, Navistar announced it would move some engine production operations from Huntsville, Alabama, to Melrose Park, Illinois by summer 2014.

On July 31, 2015, Navistar ceased operations and laid off the remaining 15 employees at the Truck Development and Technology Center (TDTC) in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

In September 2016, Navistar and Volkswagen Truck and Bus (now called Traton), the subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group that controls European heavy truck makers MAN and Scania, announced their intent to pursue a strategic technology collaboration and to establish a procurement joint venture.

In March 2017 it was announced that Volkswagen Truck & Bus's 16.6% equity investment in Navistar became effective from February 28, 2017, with Volkswagen Truck & Bus executives Andreas Renschler and Matthias Gründler joining the Navistar Board of Directors.

On January 30, 2020, Traton announced a proposal to purchase all outstanding shares in Navistar.

On July 1, 2021, Traton successfully completed its takeover of all shares in Navistar, and therefore Navistar became part of the Traton Group.