2019 was a record year for bus and trolleybus builder, Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. with record sales revenues of PLN2.6bn (EUR572m) compared with PLN1.867bn (EUR410m) in 2018 and record unit sales of 1,487 (2018: 1,226).

Bruno Blim, president, Renault Trucks SAS, in a televised press conference last month, outlined the market performance of Renault Trucks and gave insights into how the company was investing to meet the challenges of the future.

Otokar Otomotiv ve Savunma Sanayi A.Ş., a producer of commercial and defence vehicles in Sakarya at Busworld Turkey last month announced a strong year for commercial vehicle sales and particularly its bus division.

Renault Trucks SAS invoiced 54,098 vehicles to maintain its market positions in 2019 in a commercial vehicle market consisting of a very dynamic first half (up 15%) and a less buoyant second half (down 18%), according to Bruno Blim, president of Renault Trucks in a televised interview last month.

2019 was a good year for DAF Trucks, achieving a market share of 16.2% in the heavy segment in Europe - the second largest in the history of the company and placing DAF in the top three large truck manufacturers in Europe.

Reporting an 81st year of continuous profits, truck builder, Paccar Inc achieved record revenues of USD25.6bn for the year ending December 31, 2019 and an increase of 8.9% compared with USD23.50bn in 2018 and USD19.46bn in 2017.

Presenting a year-end overview of its performance in the markets of the UK and Ireland, James Charnock, commercial vehicle and services director at Renault Trucks UK, said while political uncertainty surrounding Brexit had driven some pre-buy activity this year, the result had been overall market growth in the medium and heavy-duty (MHD) truck sector with 47,000 registrations at the end of November – up 14% on 2018, exceeding expectations. 

The Benalu Group at Solutrans 2019 in Lyon held last November announced a group turnover of EUR170m and that it now employs more than 1,000 people in France and Poland.

The Krone Group (a producer of agricultural equipment and on-road trailing equipment (ie commercial vehicles - containers and container chassis, swap bodies and semi-trailers)) last month released record figures for Group operations for the year ending July 31, 2019.

Brake, axle and drive systems supplier, Meritor Inc of Troy, has reported strong results for its fiscal year ending September 30, 2019: It posted sales of USD4.4bn, up by almost 5% on USD4.19bn in the previous year.

In the 2018/19 business year ending March 31, 2019, Europe’s largest trailer builder, Schmitz Cargobull AG built around 63,500 vehicles employing 6,500 people, a record number for the company; this compares with exactly 61,256 units produced in 2017/18 with 6,400 employees and with 57,000 units and 5,700 employees.

The GAZ Group has begun sales of an off-road medium-duty truck called Sadko NEXT.