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.

The bus and coach chassis segment maintained a downward trend and decreased 16.3% in the first quarter of 2021, with 845 units exported. Bus and coach exports have been in a downward spiral since 2019 and compared with two years ago the exports have shrunk by almost 60%.

In the first quarter of 2021, Brazilian manufacturers saw truck exports soar by 91.2% to 5,276 units, up from 2,759 units in the same quarter in 2020.

Truck production in Brazil maintained an upward trend in the first quarter this year, despite the assembly lines being forced to shut down towards the end of March and has continued to the second week of April.

Production of coach output slid by 67% during the first quarter as the market for commuter, tourism and long-distance coach travel dried up.

The Brazilian bus and chassis market fell by 9.0% in the first quarter of 2021 to register 3,331 bus chassis, a trend that has been occurring since the second quarter of 2020.