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Iveco Group’s financial performance in the third quarter of 2024 was solid, benefiting from continuous positive price realisation and diligent cost management, which counterbalanced the expected impact on volumes experienced by some of the industries in which we compete. The adjusted EBIT margin of Industrial Activities stood at 5%, 30 basis points lower than our all-time high in the third quarter of 2023. Our free cash flow performance improved by 56 million euros versus the same period last year, as a result of our planned lower working capital absorption and partial recovery of the Q2 2024 one-off impact linked to the new Model Year 2024 launch.
The quarterly performance for truck industry volumes in Europe (excluding the UK and Ireland) was, as predicted, resilient for light-duty trucks and down in heavy-duty trucks and buses. Latin America industry volumes saw double-digit growth across segments. We are reconfirming our full year 2024 total industry volume expectations in Europe for heavy-duty trucks at 300 thousand registrations. Our preliminary industry forecast for heavy-duty trucks in Europe in 2025 is at between 280-290 thousand registrations, signalling a stabilisation of the market. For medium-duty trucks we are expecting industry volumes slightly down vs 2024. For light-duty trucks, our preliminary European industry forecast is basically flat vs 2024.
During Q3 2024 we intensified the launch of our Model Year 2024 product line-up for Truck and the launch activities are progressing well with ongoing introductions onto different markets. Initial feedback from customers is positive and we now have a very competitive Truck product portfolio that will support our journey to further strengthen the IVECO brand on the European truck market. Our expectation is that the Model Year 2024 truck and van deliveries will continue to gain momentum in the last months of this year and into 2025, maintaining a strong pricing discipline. We are keeping our production capacity aligned with market conditions to ensure healthy inventory levels throughout the commercial system. The phase-out of Model Year 2022 and phase-in of Model Year 2024 with our dealers is ongoing and the majority will be completed by the first quarter of 2025.
Bus ramped up the deliveries of electric city buses and executed on the strong order book which now covers production into 2026. Powertrain continued expanding our number of third-party clients, in both the on and off-road industries, diligently managing its cost base. In Defence we continued delivering on the back of our solid, multi-year order book.
In September 2024 at the IAA Transportation trade fair in Hannover, Germany, we introduced our innovative line-ups of vehicles, engines and services, demonstrating the full range of solutions powered by all propulsion options that we offer. We are ready for whatever direction our industry takes because we have all the technologies, from natural gas to hydrogen combustion engines and from battery electric to hydrogen fuel cell propulsions.
Looking to further improve our agility to react promptly to our cyclical industry and to lower our profitability breakeven point, starting from 2025 we will accelerate the implementation of our Efficiency Programme, as well as reprioritise some of our investments, reducing our total operational spending (CapEx and OpEx), without affecting our core product plan.
We are proceeding apace to deliver solid results in 2024, notwithstanding macroeconomic uncertainties in the short term, and preparing the Group as we move with full force into 2025 and beyond.
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