Production of bus and coach chassis increased by 61.6% to 6,490 units in the first quarter of 2024 compared with 4,105 in the first quarter of the same period in 2023, according to data supplied by ANFAVEA.

The new warehouse investment has been a result of significant and sustained growth in the Asia Pacific market as the company looks to drive future growth.

An engineer by training and with MBAs in the areas of Marketing and Business, Susini has extensive experience in the international automotive industry, where he held the position of president of Yamaha in Brazil.

“The supply to Expresso Nordeste confirms the brand's growth potential," said Danilo Fetzner, director of IVECO BUS for Latin America.

The new factory, construction of which is expected to be completed by the end of the year for start of operations in the first quarter of 2025, is to supply driveline components to the truck and bus chassis produced by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil.

Daimler Buses has set itself a range of ambitious targets for 2030, including achieving an adjusted return on sales of nine percent by the end of the decade and eight percent by as early as 2025 (2023: adjusted return on sales of 4.7%). Overall, the business segment is set to become more lean and therefore profitable in order to shoulder the investment into electrification.

This has been made possible through the rollout of telematics hardware and constant software updates to its global digital platform on all of its vehicle brands. These services are offered through Mercedes-Benz Trucks Uptime, Fleetboard or OmniPlus in Europe, Truckconnect in Asia and Detroit Connect branded solutions in North America.

Vietnam’s commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw continued to decline in the fourth quarter of 2023, by over 16% to 14,877 units from already weak year-earlier sales of 17,766 units.

The Thai commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw plunged by 37% to 68,295 units in the fourth-quarter of 2023 from 108,498 units a year earlier.

The South Korean market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw declined by more than 5% to 59,190 units in the fourth quarter of 2023 from 62,497 units a year earlier.

The Philippine market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw declined by 10% to 30,656 units in the fourth quarter of 2023 from 34,131 units in the same period of the previous year, according to analysis of data from various industry sources.

Having announced its ‘E-Mobility kit’ in 2023 – a portfolio of advanced electric drives, auxiliary components and complete systems for medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicles – ZF says it plans to ramp up production from 2025 to meet demand.