Ford Motor Co, based in Dearborn, Michigan has announced that Ford Otomotiv Sanayi A.Ş. (Ford Otosan), based in Gölcük, Turkey, will assume control of its manufacturing plant in Craiova, Romania, subject to regulatory approval, in Q3 2022.

Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation, based in Kawasaki City, Japan, has unveiled the next generation eCanter test vehicle. Prior to the official launch, the test vehicles are destined to undergo a total test distance of over 1 million km, which includes testing in severe hot and cold climates both domestically and abroad.

General Motors Company’s subsidiary BrightDrop Inc, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, has rebranded its electric product range. It’s delivery vehicles, first dubbed the EV600 and EV410, have been renamed the Zevo 600 and Zevo 400, respectively.

Shyft Group launched a new brand with a range of electric vehicle products, while subsidiaries DuraMag and Utilimaster showcased a range of light truck products.

BorgWarner Inc, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA, has announced it has signed an agreement with Santroll Automotive Components of Tianjin, China, to purchase its eMotor business for approximately USD220 million. The deal is expected to close in late Q1 2022.

CALSTART has recently published its annual ‘Zeroing in on Zero-Emission Trucks’ report highlighting that, as of December 2021, there have been 1,215 ZETs (zero-emission trucks) deployed on US roads.¹ Crucially, however, CALSTART estimates that over 60% of ZETs deployed in the US are no longer operational. Consequently, the true number of active ZETs is much lower than initially suggested.

The order for 100 units of the VMC 1200 range is worth CAD12m and is set to be fulfilled beginning in Q2 2022.

Ricardo's goal is to develop an electric motor with a smaller composition of scarce materials without compromising on performance.

Production will begin initially in Charleston, South Carolina, USA in the second half of 2023 and subsequently at two German plants.

Japan’s market for light commercial vehicles (between 2.0-4.5 tons gvw) fell by over 13% to 49,514 units in the fourth quarter of 2021, with sales affected by the covid resurgence in the second half of the year and by the resulting global shortages of semi-conductors. Full-year sales were just slightly lower at 230,968 units after a 13% decline to 267,007 units in the previous year.  

The Indonesian market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw continued to recover strongly in the fourth quarter of 2021, with sales rising more than 60% to 47,210 units from a depressed 29,423 units a year earlier, based on AsiaMotorBusiness.com analysis of industry data. 

Sales of pickup trucks increased by over 13% to 15,002 units in the fourth quarter of 2021 after declining by 17% to 13,227 units in the same period of the previous year, as the economy continued to rebound from sharp declines in 2020. Full year sales were up by almost 20% at 48,101 units following a 41% decline to 40,187 units in 2020.