Hino Motors Ltd, a Toyota Group Company, plans to invest JPY11.5bn (USD105m) in a new integrated research and development centre and production hub in Thailand, with construction set to begin in July 2019.

TM4, the Boucherville, motor and inverter joint venture between Dana Incorporated and Quebec-Hydro has reached a major milestone with the production of its 12,000th TM4 SUMO electric powertrain system for heavy commercial vehicles in China.

January saw the start of pre-production assembly of Hino’s XL-Series Class7/8 trucks in the USA on a brand new production line installed in a new plant in Mineral Wells.

Sweden's Scania has supplied a 16-litre engine to support a new Australian trial of renewable diesel fuel. The fuel will be made from waste plastic, old vehicle tyres, agricultural and forestry waste, as well as bio-solids. The trial is aimed at achieving commercial scale production.

Fahrzeugwerk Bernard Krone GmbH & Co KG is doubling its production capacity for swap bodies and Dry Liners at its production plant in Herzlake.

Trailer and bodybuilder, Cartwright Group, has invested in a fully programmable robotic welder to drive up productivity and efficiency at its South Manchester production facility.

Schmitz Cargobull AG claims to be the first trailer manufacturer in Europe to produce single-piece Ferroplast (insulated) side walls for refrigerated box bodies with a total length of 16.80 metres.

Pailton Engineering, the steering system manufacturer, has invested in a low volume production cell specifically for small batch orders and pre-production sample manufacturing.

Scania AB is developing a fuel cell refuse truck together with Renova AB, a waste management services company owned by a consortium of municipalities in western Sweden.

Schmitz Cargobull AG says investments during 2017/18 year ending March 2018 and on-going into 2018/19 on technology and capacity expansion at its plant in Panevezys (where it builds a range of refrigerated and dry box van structures for trucks and trailers) will see daily output levels triple from April 2019.

Hyundai Truck and Bus Rus (an official representative office and subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, established in February 2017) has started series assembly of the Hyundai HD35 and Hyundai35City light commercial vehicle range (with gross weights stated as 3.5 tons) at the Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad.

February sees Scania do Brasil Ltda start production of its new generation truck range at its plant in São Bernardo do Campo, which is approximately two years after launching the new models in Europe.