In the period January to March 2024, truck production reached 29,327 units, an increase of 19.7% over the 24,497 vehicles manufactured in the same period in 2023 according to the National Association of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (ANFAVEA).

T&BB decided to delve into the reasons for this sales success story by interviewing the top management of Stuart Beeton, Head of Sales & Marketing and Peter Murphy, Managing Director of Isuzu Truck UK.

Earlier this month at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC in Birmingham, T&BB spoke to Greg Ethridge, the Chief Financial Officer of American EV manufacturer, Canoo Inc who confirmed that the company had indeed purchased manufacturing assets (robotics and machinery equipment) from now defunct, Arrival Ltd. The manufacturing assets are set to be shipped by sea to the Canoo manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City, in the U.S.A.

The facility houses 65 DC 180kW fast chargers with a capacity to charge 200 electric HGVs a day. Einride claims that this is the largest electric HGV charging station in North America.

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.

The startup manufacturer says that one of the key changes to the 2024 model ‘Xos SV’ is the addition of an anti-lock braking system with hill hold to improve its drivability.

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.

Electric vans developed under the joint venture, called 'Flexis SAS', will be serially manufactured at Sandouville, where Renault has produced over a million mid-sized vans (‘Trafic’) since it opened ten years ago.

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.