Sales of large buses and coaches (>7.5t gvw) in the fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) decreased sharply by 81.70% to 7,322 units from 40,016 units registered in the previous same fiscal year (2019-20).

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.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) had issued draft notification amendments to mandate installation of fire detection and alarm systems in all new school and intercity buses throughout the vehicle, which now includes the passenger compartment in addition to the engine compartment.

Mercedes-Benz do Brasil Ltda has launched a new high floor chassis model for the city bus BRT segment, the O500 R Super Padron.

The market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in East Asia’s seven main markets (excluding China) fell by just 2.6% to 385,943 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 after declining by close to 13% to 396,046 units in the same period of 2019, according to data compiled by www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com from numerous industry sources.

Hamburg operator, Verkehrsbetriebe Hamburg-Holstein GmbH is to acquire eight Irizar ie bus zero-emission vehicles, adding to existing orders from ICB Frankfurt and Rheinbahn Düsseldorf.

Electric bus manufacturer, BYD Co Ltd of Shenzhen has expanded its footprint in Europe with a first order from Romania.

The world’s first fleet of double deck hydrogen buses, built by Ballymena-based Wrightbus, officially began operations on January 28 in Aberdeen.

Volvo Buses has introduced a new version of its 9700 double deck coach.

Iveco Bus of Turin, Italy ( a brand of CNH Industrial) has delivered the first of three E-WAY fully electric 9.5m midi-buses via local dealer, Maresca & Fiorentino of Bologna to TPER (Passenger Transport Emilia Romagna).

CaetanoBus has won an order from Wiesbaden, Germany for ten H2.CityGold 12m hydrogen fuel cell buses for delivery in the last quarter of 2021.

Daimler Buses is to supply five Mercedes-Benz eCitaro buses equipped with solid state batteries to public transport provider, Bremer Straßenbahn AG (BSAG) in the city of Bremen.