Akia Avesto Automotive Industry LLC announced at Busworld Central Asia that in June this year it had inaugurated a bus factory in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

BorgWarner Inc and battery storage specialist, Romeo Power Technology, have formed a joint venture to produce automotive batteries for light and high-performance electric vehicles.

Tata AutoComp Systems Ltd¹ of Pune, a division of Mumbai’s Tata Group, which offers a wide range of products and services for the automotive and commercial vehicle industries and SECO Seojin Automotive Co Ltd² of Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of South Korea, have entered into a joint venture to design, develop and manufacture clutch systems in India catering specifically for commercial vehicles and agricultural tractors.

Following an announcement by ZF Friedrichshafen AG at the end of 2016 that it was forming two joint ventures in China with Beiqi Foton Motor Co Ltd to produce and sell commercial vehicle transmissions, the second of these two joint ventures - ZF Foton HCV Automated Transmissions (Jiaxing) Co Ltd, which is 51% owned by ZF and set up to build its heavy-duty TraXon transmission for trucks and coaches in China - has started production at a new production facility in Jiaxing.

Eberspächer Exhaust Technology International and Sharda Motor Industries Ltd last month signed an agreement to create a joint venture of parity (50:50) ownership to supply exhaust after-treatment systems for trucks and buses to enable compliance with the new Bharat Stage VI  emission standards, which come into force from April 1, 2020.

Eberspächer Exhaust Technology International GmbH and China Yuchai International Limited have formed a joint venture company called Eberspächer Yuchai Exhaust Technology Co Ltd, to produce and sell exhaust emission control systems for Chinese commercial vehicles to meet the highest domestic emission standard, China National 6.

Toyota Motor Corporation and Panasonic Corporation have concluded contracts for business-integration and for a new joint-venture company for automotive battery R&D and manufacture.

Bridgestone Europe NV, (a tyre making and distribution subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation), and Iris Capital, a European venture capital firm, have entered a corporate partnership to investigate and invest in new mobility services, industry 4.0 and digital transformation technologies across Europe, the Middle-East and Africa region.