Mitsubishi Fuso has made some important improvements to its Canter light-duty truck for compliance with Japanese regulations to be introduced in September 2021.

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.’

Bridgestone Corporation of Tokyo, Japan has launched a new flagship tyre for the city bus segment, the U-AP 002.

Tyre manufacturer, Bridgestone Corporation of Tokyo, Japan has announced all of its European tyre plants, European R&D Centre and Proving Ground in Rome, Italy, its PCT plant in Lanklaar, Belgium, textile plant in Usansolo, Spain and its EMIA headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, are now powered by electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Hino Motors Ltd of Hino-shi and ‘electric skateboard chassis builder,’ REE Automotive (REE*) of Tel Aviv, Israel, have signed a strategic business alliance agreement to realise their shared vision of “providing new value to society through next-generation commercial mobility.”

Toyota Motor Corporation of Toyota, Japan, together with the Japanese Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital in Kumamo, as of March 2021, has started testing of what it claims is the world’s first fuel cell electric vehicle mobile clinic that uses hydrogen to generate electricity for patient treatments during times of emergency and natural disasters.

The Volvo Group of Gothenburg, Sweden has completed the previously announced sale of its Japanese truck and bus subsidiary, UD Trucks Ltd of Ageo, Saitama to Isuzu Motors Ltd of Tokyo, Japan for an enterprise value of JPY243bn (approximately SEK19bn / EUR1.86bn) on a cash and debt free basis.

Toyota Motor Corporation of Toyota, Japan has developed packaging to house fuel cell systems into compact modules, which, it says, it plans to begin selling it in the spring of 2021 or later. The new module is designed to be utilised easily by companies developing and manufacturing fuel cell systems for a wide variety of applications, including transport such as trucks, buses, trains and ships.

Three years after the launch of small-series production, deliveries of Daimler Trucks' all-electric light-duty truck Fuso eCanter have now surpassed 200 vehicles.

Japan’s market for medium and large buses and coaches continued to shrink in the fourth quarter of 2020, by almost 39% to 1,564 units after declining by 20% to 2,550 units in the same period of last year, as demand for public service buses remained depressed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan’s medium and heavy truck market over 4.5 tons gvw increased by almost 13% to 40,062 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 after declining by almost 20% to 35,518 units a year earlier, reflecting a sharp rebound in fixed investment and exports.

Japan’s market for light commercial vehicles between 2.0 & 4.5 tons gvw expanded by just over 4% to 57,210 units in the fourth quarter of 2020 from weak year-earlier sales of 54,981 units, resulting in a decline of just over 13% to 267,007 units over the full-year.