Mitsubishi Fuso has made some important improvements to its Canter light-duty truck for compliance with Japanese regulations to be introduced in September 2021.

Hübner GmbH & Co KG (Hübner Group) of Kassel Germany has acquired Dutch electro-hydraulic chassis steering specialist, V.S.E. Vehicle Systems Engineering B.V. of Veenendaal, Netherlands, for an undisclosed sum from Weber-Hydraulik Group, which has owned VSE since 2014.

Domestic sales of medium- and heavy-duty rigid trucks fell by 15.41% to 139,486 units in FY2020 from 164,896 units in the financial year 2019-20. While this appears not to be a major fall if the registrations last year are compared with two years ago, when 280,139 units were registered, this is a halving of the market in two years.

Total tractor sales in the fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021)  fell by 28.9% to register 13,880 units compared with 19,516 units in the previous year (FY2019-20). Since two years ago this means the market has shrunk by 72% from when sales had registered 70,989 tractor units.

Sales of LCV goods carrier (trucks) vehicles (gvw ≤ 7.5t) saw sales decline by 11.5% in the fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) to 395,783 units from 447,351 units in FY2019-20. This is the second year of decline from 564,409 unit sales two years ago; a difference of 170,000 units!

Sales of medium and heavy rigid trucks (7.5t gvw and above) in India during the fourth quarter (January to March 2021) of fiscal year 2020-21 increased by 112.1% to register 66,330 units, up from 31,275 units in same quarter of the year, 2019-20. This recovery was also in contrast to the decrease in the same quarter last year, which saw the market collapse from the previous year’s final quarter period (Q4/2018-19) when 80,355 trucks were registered.

Tractor sales grew by 55.5% during the fourth quarter in fiscal year 2020-21 (January to March) to register 8,413 units compared with 5,409 units in the same quarter of the previous year (FY2019-20). Tractor production increased by 72.5% overall from 4,970 units to 8,572 units and exports were also up by 24.2%.

Sales of LCV goods carrier (truck) vehicles (gvw ≤ 7.5t) grew strongly in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) and by 41.9% to register 125,160 units, up from 88,189 units in same period of FY2019-20. Production of LCV goods carriers increased by 42.8% to 141,939 vehicles from 99,408 in the same quarter the year before, and exports grew by 53.1% to 11,503 (7,514).

CEAT Ltd of Mumbai, a full range tyre manufacturer, says it plans to make an investment of USD164m (INR1200Cr) in financial year 2021-22 to expand production of its radial bus and truck tyres.

Ashok Leyland Ltd of Chennai has announced it is offering round-the-clock support for all commercial vehicles transporting oxygen as well as other essential supplies.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Tata Motors Ltd of Mumbai, has released onto the Indian market a new generation of medium-duty Tata Ultra truck models – the Ultra Sleek T-Series of T.61, T.72 and T.93. All are offered in various deck lengths from 10 to 20 feet to meet a multiple range of applications and are equipped with the 4SPCR BS VI engines used previously only in the LCV truck range (i.e., below 7t gvw), but are now fitted in ICV range up to 9t gvw trucks.

Electric bus and light van builder, Switch Mobility Automotive Ltd of Bengaluru has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens Ltd of Mumbai, India to address jointly the need of electric commercial vehicle customers and execute e-mobility projects in India.