The market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in Vietnam continued to decline in the first quarter of 2019, by over 17% to 15,277 units from 18,489 units in the same period of last year, based on data compiled by the Vietnam Automotive Manufacturers Association.

Sales of pickup trucks and derivatives rose by more than 12% to 132,705 units in the first quarter of 2019 from an already buoyant 118,252 sales in the same period of last year, driven by strong consumer sentiment and rising incomes.

The Thai commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw expanded by 12% to 144,283 units in the first quarter of 2019 from 128,861 units in the same period of last year, according to data compiled by www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com from various industry sources.

Sales of pickup trucks declined by 17.7% to 7,698 units in the first quarter of 2019 from an unchanged 9,358 units in the same period a year earlier, reflecting a broad-based decline in economic growth.

The Malaysian commercial vehicle market above 2 tons gvw declined by almost 15% to 12,431 units in the first quarter of 2019 from 14,549 units a year earlier, as the economic growth in the country continued to weaken.

The Philippine market for pickup trucks continued to expand strongly in the first quarter, increasing by 26% year-on-year to 15,147 units after growth of over 16% to 12,026 units in the same period of last year.

Japan’s light commercial vehicle market of 2.0-4.5 tons gvw expanded by 6.5% to 75,525 units in the first quarter from 70,904 units a year earlier, despite weakening private consumption in the country.

The commercial vehicle market over 2 tons gvw in Japan expanded by 5.1% to 130,778 units in the first quarter of 2019 from weak year-earlier sales of 124,448 units, based on data released by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

The market for commercial vehicles over 2 tons gvw in East Asia’s seven main markets (excluding China) grew at a sharply slower rate in the first quarter of 2019, with sales rising by just 2.7% to 431,041 units from 419,562 units in the same period of last year, according to data compiled by www.AsiaMotorBusiness.com from numerous industry sources.

The Governement of South Korea has set itself the ambitious target of switching the country’s entire fleet of medium and heavy commercial vehicles to fuel-cell energy by 2035, as it looks to reduce air pollution in the country – particularly fine-dust.

Hino Motors Corporation has agreed to join the Monet Technologies Corporation partnership between Toyota, Softbank and now also Honda of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, which is focused on the development of new mobility technologies and services including autonomous driving.

Mitsubishi-Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation said it plans to invest up to JPY5bn (USD46m) in 2019 to upgrade selected dealerships as part of its seven-year Mirai Project aimed at “revolutionizing” its retail network in Japan.