June saw the start of series production of Mercedes-Benz eO500U electric bus chassis on the modern Bus Chassis Production Line at the Mercedes-Benz do Brasil plant in São Bernardo do Campo (SP).

The joint venture, under the name ‘Roqit’, will develop a digital platform for the provision of various services, including management tools for fleets, insurance, hydrogen infrastructure, and emissions tracking, as well as data insights.

Up to 280 units of Rampini’s 8-metre electric bus, the ‘Eltron’, are now available for public transport operators in Italy to order with certain customisation options.

Produced in Spain, the BYD-Castrosua 12-metre eBuses has been built on the BYD electric chassis with Castrasua 'Nelec' electric bus bodywork.

The Japanese market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw rebounded by 12% in the first quarter of 2023 after declining by 18% in the same period of last year.

MasterTrans is a dedicated bus builder established a decade ago in Taiwan, which is transitioning to production of electric buses in 18 months' time.

The Indonesian market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw grew by 16% to 46,811 units in the first quarter of 2023 from 40,349 units in the same period of last year, as the domestic economy continued to recover from covid-related lockdowns.

The Malaysian commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw continued to expand in the first quarter of 2023, by almost 13% after growing by over 20% a year earlier.

The Philippine market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw shrank by more than 3% in the first quarter of 2023 after growing by 12% in the same period of last year.

Sales of commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in East Asia’s seven main markets, excluding China, fell by over 2% year-on-year to 372,543 units in the first quarter of 2023 after growing just 1.6% to 364,641 units in the fourth quarter of last year.

This moves comes on the back of a major repower bus order in the Capital and to combat competition primarily coming from Chinese OEMs.

June saw Hyundai sign a memorandum of understanding with the South Korean Ministry of Environment, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and others to convert more than 1,300 public transportation vehicles to hydrogen fuel cell power by 2026.