Sales of light-duty passenger vehicles (7.5 tons and below) fell by 73.6% in the fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) to 12,078 from 45,814 units in the previous fiscal year and from 52,170 units two years ago. Exports also fell dramatically by 61.8% to 1,641 units in 2021. Production experienced a decrease in output of 65.8% to 15,475 year-on-year from 45,291, and from over 55,000 in 2018-19.

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).

Ashok Leyland Ltd of Chennai has announced it is offering round-the-clock support for all commercial vehicles transporting oxygen as well as other essential supplies.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Tata Motors Ltd of Mumbai, has released onto the Indian market a new generation of medium-duty Tata Ultra truck models – the Ultra Sleek T-Series of T.61, T.72 and T.93. All are offered in various deck lengths from 10 to 20 feet to meet a multiple range of applications and are equipped with the 4SPCR BS VI engines used previously only in the LCV truck range (i.e., below 7t gvw), but are now fitted in ICV range up to 9t gvw trucks.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH), based in New Delhi, has mandated oxygen carrying tankers (oxygen transporting tankers which are used for emergency services especially for supporting COVID affected patients) with and without National permits1 capable of carrying oxygen, install Vehicle Location Tracking (VLT) devices compliant with AIS 140 standards.

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.

Hino Motors Ltd of Hino-shi from mid-2022 plans to release onto the Japanese market, the Hino Dutro Z EV – the company’s first full-scale electric vehicle which is designed for ‘last mile deliveries.’

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.