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.

Specialist vehicle design and manufacturing group, Woodall Nicholson Holdings Ltd (WNHL) of Bolton, UK, which builds light- and medium-duty commercial vehicles under various brand names (which include Mellor Bus, Trekka Bus and VCS, see below) has added a fourth division to its group portfolio.

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.

Sales of light-duty vehicles fell by 79.2% to 7,426 units in the first nine months of fiscal year 2020-21 from 35,644 units in same period of 2019-20.

Sales of light-duty vehicles (7.5t gvw & below) declined by 69.7% to register just 2,803 units in Q3 of FY2020-21, down from 9,254 units in Q3 of FY2019-20.