Samauto is planning to produce some 10,000 buses in 2019, which would be more than double the 4,000 units built in 2018, suggested Serkan Öztürk, export specialist for Samauto at Busworld Central Asia in Almaty, held at the end of June.

Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus (VWCO) together with bus body builder, Mascarello Carrocerias e Ônibus Ltda, has delivered 15 buses with Volksbus 17,280 OT chassis and Mascarello Gran Metro bodywork to Aruba in the Caribbean.

The Brazilian coachbuilder, Carbuss Ltda, announced in June it had exported, ten Vissta Buss 340 coaches on Scania K340 4x2 Euro 5 chassis for charter and tourism operations in Santiago.

CKD assembler of JAC-branded cars, Allur Group announced at Busworld Central Asia in Almaty that it was now assembling buses at its headquarters in Kostanay.

Marcopolo SA has taken a controlling shareholding in Metalsur Carrocerías S.R.L., a manufacturer of coach bodies, located in Santa Fe, Argentina by increasing its shareholding in Metalsur, from 25%, which it acquired in 2012 to 70%.

Public Transport operator, Abellio London, has confirmed an order for 34 Caetano zero emission, electric buses for operation in the UK capital.

Olectra-BYD has announced it plans to open a second plant in North India by 2021 to meet growing demand.

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.

Australian bus manufacturer, Volgren, has been engaged in several development projects for zero and low emission bus projects with BYD Company and Volvo Buses.

Blue Bird Corporation has inaugurated a new 60,000 sq ft paint shop facility at its Fort Valley assembly plant. Blue Bird states the investment will provide best-in-class paint coverage, minimise waste and improve production efficiency in school bus manufacture.

The California Energy Commission has announced qualifying buses passing its Technical Evaluation phase, can now be ordered through the Clean Transportation Programme’s Grant, GFO-18-604.

The government of Moscow city and PJSC KAMAZ have signed an agreement whereby Kamaz will set up an assembly plant in the city for building more than 500 electric buses annually.