This move came as the company struggled with debts exceeding USD 35 million, prompting them to seek assistance in managing their financial challenges​. The company currently has manufacturing plants in Queensland and South Australia, producing diesel, hybrid and zero-emission buses.

Over 90% of these will be zero-emission, drawn from the manufacturer’s ranges of battery electric and fuel cell electric single and double deckers.

With series production set to begin at the end of the year, Habas representatives said that these vehicles will be produced predominantly for the CIS (Eurasian) market, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

During its press conference at the show, Microvast announced that its planned battery cell and pack manufacturing plant in Clarksville, Tennessee will open between 2026 and 2027, more than three years later than originally planned.

Building on its hydrogen innovations since 2022, Karsan plans to launch its first hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (the e-ATA Hydrogen) in 2025. These vehicles will be equipped with Toyota’s state-of-the-art 85 kW fuel cell modules, providing significant power and range.

This is the key take away from conversations at the IAA Transportation and following a round table discussion with Prof. Dr. Peter Laier, Member of the Board of ZF Group.

The company, which was established in 2019 to develop hydrogen-powered engines, fuel cells, components and other equipment designed to help establish an hydrogen transportation eco-system, today employs around 800 people and has five R&D centres globally.

The Thai market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw is estimated to have plunged by a further 22% year-on-year to 50,516 units in the second quarter of 2024, having fallen by close to 37% to 64,567 units in the same period of last year.

The Indonesian market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw continued to weaken in the second quarter of 2024, by 13% to 31,745 units from strong year-earlier sales of 36,474 units.

In July, American powertrain manufacturer, Cummins Inc, opened a new test facility at its engine plant in Darlington in the northeast of England, with the attendance of T&BB and other members of the trade press. The company has carried out engine testing at Darlington for many years, but the new facility represents a definitive change in approach to product development and evaluation. While the older test cells are solely designed to assess engines, the new facility can accommodate an entire truck or bus for whole vehicle testing. Moreover, the building which houses the new facility is specifically made to safely test gas and hydrogen combustion vehicles.

All product brands, including Vitesco, which are currently marketed alongside the Schaeffler brand will “gradually be transferred to the corporate brand”.

Vietnam’s market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw began to recover in the second quarter of 2024 after almost two years of sharp decline.