Production, according to Silvio Furtado, vice-president of Solutions for Commercial Vehicles and Industrial Technology ZF South America, exceeds 100 units a day and that the factory has recently completed a production sequence of more than 32,000 transmissions without a failure.

Called Ruta Elétrica Andina the project proposes construction of battery charging stations along the Andean highway at intervals of every 200 km – initially the project is to run from Cartagena in northern Colombia to Ipiales, on the border with Ecuador.

Volvo Financial Services (VFS) América do Sul based in Curitiba, Paraná, is now 30 years old on the Brazilian market with managed assets in 2023 totalling BRA 22 billion (USD4.4bn).

BYD debuted two new electric buses for the European market. These new buses joined two established BYD models on the stand: the BYD eBus B19 and the BYD eBus B15.

The vehicles were tailor-made for the Middle East market and eighty units of the coach bodies on the Volksbus 17.240 OT chassis were equipped with a removable roof.

The deal includes the Proterra development centre for battery modules and packs in California and an assembly factory in South Carolina. Whilst details remain sparse at this point, the deal is expected to close in early 2024 and remains subject to the approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

According to data from Bogotá-based Andemos (National Association for Sustainable Mobility) sales in year to September 30, 2023, fell by 35.3% to 19,444 heavy commercial vehicles compared with 30,060 units sold in the same period of 2022.

Ecuador completed the first nine months of this year with registrations of 8,219 heavy commercial vehicles, a decrease of 4.2% compared with 8,581 vehicles sold in the same period of 2022.

With registrations of 12,881 heavy commercial vehicles during the first nine months of this year, the Peruvian market declined by 6.3% compared with 13,750 units invoiced in the same period of 2022.

The economic contraction in Chile went beyond the negative forecasts predicted by the Monthly Economic Activity Indicator in a more pronounced way than estimated and majorly compromised sales of commercial vehicles.

The Uruguayan market in January to September registered 2,242 commercial vehicles (trucks, buses and minibuses) an increase of 8.8% compared with the 2,061 units sold in the same period of 2022.

Brazilian production of bus and coach bodies grew by 9.1% from January to September 2023 with 14,888 units, compared with 13,646 in the same period of the previous year.