Sorry I just couldn't resist the title!
These guys
WELCOME IN SCAM have been making leaf sprung live axle light trucks with Daily engine & gearbox for a while now, they use a Ducato cab and their own (or a BorgWarner) axle & transfer case.
It was a logical step that Iveco sub-contract their 4x4 model to Scam; for such a small market it's not really worth their investment to tool up for a new model. So the deal is they supply the cabs and engine/gearbox and some cool interface engineering.
The leaf springs and transfer case separately mounted on the chassis are a backward step IMHO. The independant front suspension has ride quality advantages. The TC directly mounted on the end of the gearbox is also more sensible from the point of view of torque transmitted to the chassis.
I doubt the engine has that fantastic chain driven distribution in a sealed case, but the TD5 set will say that there's no need, and they're probably right. I would simply prefer to deal with chain strech than sudden belt breakage.
It doesn't look like it needs a sump guard, but that track rod looks very, very vulnerable. It also looks strong, but the right rock or lump of camel grass will see to that (echoes of old LR track rod problems come to mind).
I think it looks too high for its width, is there some rule that I don't know about that keeps all light trucks around 1.8m wide? It penalises the camper conversions, and makes them look unstable.
Iveco only commercialise them in two wheelbases, where if you buy directly from Scam you can name your wheelbase (but you get a Ducato cab), I wonder if they would do a daily with a different wheelbase, or with one of the longer 2wd van bodies.... having seen the two (2wd normal versions) side by side I prefer the truck industry build quality of the Daily cab over the car industry Ducato cab.
But no I haven't driven one and I don't know how much the Iveco will cost, but they're well placed between a LR/TLC and a MAN/MOG.
I's fun playing with the Scam configurator, if a little scary price wise.
Cheers,
Luke