India - Sales of light-duty passenger vehicles (7.5 tons and below) in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) fell by 54.3% to 4,652 units from 10,170 in the same quarter of FY2019-20.  Exports fell by 37.2%  to 733 (1,168) and production fell sharply by 50.2% to 5,688 (11,429).

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%.

Domestic sales of medium and large buses and coaches (7.5t gvw and above) fell by 56.1% in the fourth quarter of financial year 2020-21 (January to March) to register just 4,744 units, down from 10,810 units in Q4/2019-20. Total bus and coach production also fell sharply during the fourth quarter by 54% to just shy of 5,000 units (10,763). Total exports decreased by 38.7% to 1,211 vehicles from 1,974 units in Q4/2019-20.

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).

While the European market is growing at a phenomenal rate – the European electric bus market is forecast to grow from 2,114 units registered in 2020 to more than 12,760 units in 2030 - the market in Asia really accounts for the lion share of the electric city bus market, stated Rueben Scriven - Senior Analyst at Interact Analysis, during an on-line presentation at the Sustainability Bus conference last month.

During 2020, Russia registered a total of 97,882 light-duty commercial vehicles with gross vehicle weight of up to 5t, which was 6.1% fewer than the 104,224 units registered in 2019, according to statistical data provided by Avtostat Info.

The total number of alternative drivelines in city buses in Western Europe (+Poland) totalled 7,747 units accounting for 58.9% of total city bus registrations in 2020 of 13,140 units, according to market analysis by Wim Chatrou of Chatrou CME Solutions of The Netherlands.

The Peruvian market ended the first quarter of 2021 with the sale of 4,401 commercial vehicles, an increase of 42.1% compared with 3,098 units in the first three months of 2020. This was the best first quarter result in seven years, since 2014, when 5,382 units were sold.

The price of steel charged by producers in Brazil in the last 12 months has increased by almost 100%, according to Norberto Fabris, president of ANFIR - National Association of Manufacturers of Road Implements.

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil in February this year announced it had plans to hire around 1,000 additional people for the São Bernardo do Campo plant in ABC Paulista, which currently employs 8,500.

Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus exported 180 units to Uruguay in the first quarter this year, some 291.3% higher than in the same period of 2020. In March it sold 100 vehicles, which VWCO suggests was the largest volume it has ever sold in a single month.