Navistar International Corp.

International hands over the keys to early versions of 4-wheel-drive TerraStar and cab-over-engine LoadStar refuse hauler.

Navistar International Corp., Lisle, Ill., is rolling out three new models in the vocational marketplace, ex­panding its presence in a segment that one of the man­ufacturer’s loudest cheerleaders of late said is the company’s true bread-and-butter business.

“We are more of a vocational company than an on-highway company — that’s a fact,” said Jim Hebe, who in October announced his retirement from the post of senior vice president of North American sales, a job he still held on Sept. 25 when he spoke during a media and dealer event that showcased the company’s TerraStar all-wheel-drive, LoadStar low cab forward refuse hauler and WorkStar sloped nose models, among others.

“This company has had a history of vocational products, and we have made the absolute conscious decision that we are not going to give it up,” he said.

Hebe, in fact, was part of that earlier history, having joined the company then known as International Harvester in 1971, then working his way through the medium-, heavy- and vocational truck industries before returning to Navistar in 2008.