Fras-le is a leader in friction materials and is a brand of the company, Frasle Mobility. It makes a complete portfolio of brake pads, linings and shoes for cars, motorcycles, heavy vehicles, among other applications, such as railway and industrial, serving OEMs and the aftermarket.

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.

Investment is for initiatives in two primary locations: The Randon branded semi-trailer and railway wagon assembly plant in Caxias do Sul and the Motion Control manufacturing facility, also in Caxais do Sul, which operates under the Frasle Mobility brand name.

He takes over from Chief Operating Officer Thomas Biringer, who led Schwarzmüller on an interim basis after the resignation of former CEO Roland Hartwig in 2023.

According to the EU, the dates of application depend on vehicle type: “30 months for new types of cars and vans, and 42 months for new cars and vans. 48 months for new types of buses, trucks and trailers, and 60 months for new buses, lorries and trailers. 30 months for new systems, components or separate technical units to be fitted in cars and vans, and 48 months for those to be fitted in buses, lorries and trailers.”

No further details have been announced, except that the two partners will initially keep between 650 and 950 Van Hool workers in employment.

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.

The Krone Commercial Vehicle Division generated EUR1.7 billion in revenues, an increase of 22.9% compared with the previous year of EUR1.374 billion.

The investment will fund the further development of Range Energy’s electric axle technology for semi-trailers, which can reduce fuel consumption in a diesel tractor-trailer combo or energy consumption in a fully-electric one.

The manufacturer has said that "an inheritance dispute" among shareholders and the Van Hool family "has complicated the planned actions"; the implementation of its recovery plan "in a business continuity situation is no longer viable”.

New energy commercial vehicles (NECVs), comprising mainly hydrogen, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, increased by 32% to 447,000 units.

‘T/T Pair’ is a 7-way socket which is designed to replace Phillips’ ‘QCS2’ socket for hooking up a semi-trailer to a tractor unit.