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Cape Town - All Blacks-themed vehicles have raised nearly R3.4 million for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in Europe.
According to the Stuff website, the Iveco vehicles - a Stralis XP "Emotional Truck" and Magelys All Blacks luxury bus - were part of the transportation unit required to move the team and its gear around Europe during their recently completed tour of Italy, Ireland and France.
The vehicles were auctioned on Charity Stars with the €230 000 raised going to the the United Nations Children's Fund that promotes and protects the rights of children throughout the world, contributing to improving their quality of life.
Besides the two auctioned vehicles, Iveco also supplied another Magelys bus and four mini-buses for team transportation.
The Magelys, in its "Lounge" version, is the ultimate in luxury transportation. It is 12.8 metres long, equipped with a central glass pavillion that complements the side corridors. The vehicle was completely customised for the team, with 46 comfortable leather reclining seats - eight of which arranged around two gaming tables at the rear of the vehicle - to provide a greater level of comfort to the players. The equipment includes several options, such as a Lavazza coffee machine, a fridge, toilets, wi-fi connection, a GPS, a multi-media audiovisual system with two LCD screens and USB sockets for each pair of seats.
The handover ceremony for the keys of the two auctioned vehicles took place on Monday in Paris in the presence of All Blacks Ben Smith, Elliot Dixon and Steven Luatua, Unicef staff and Pierre Lahutte, Iveco brand president.
Lahutte handed over the keys to representatives from Transports Galtier and Cialone Tour Spa who bought the truck and bus respectively.
