Navistar International Corp. (NAV) and Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) said Thursday they have completed their global trucking joint venture, NC2 Global LLC.

But the companies pushed back the date for full production on its collaboration building Caterpillar-brand construction trucks for North America by several months to mid-2011.

Navistar shares were recently down 7.6% at $42.23 premarket as the company late Wednesday reported a quarterly loss and cut expectations again amid continued weak demand. Caterpillar dipped 20 cents to $48.21.

As they said in April, the joint venture will focus on Australia, Brazil, China, Russia, South Africa and Turkey. In those locales the effort will sell aero nose and cab-over designs under both the Caterpillar and International brands.

Caterpillar executive Doug Oberhelman will serve as NC2's chairman. Al Saltiel, who has headed Navistar's marketing for five years, will be the venture's president, and Bob Iacullo, formerly a manager in Caterpillar product development, will be its financial chief.

Heavy-duty vehicles such as buses and big trucks have seen a sales slump, although military orders have offset some of the slack for companies such as Navistar.

In July, Caterpillar reported that its second-quarter profit fell 66%. Chief Executive Jim Owens said then he believes the company will benefit from an eventual economic recovery - he just doesn't know when that is.

-By Joan E. Solsman, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2291; joan.solsman@dowjones.com