In the 2000s, there were three major manufacturers of buses and bus bodies in the United Kingdom: Alexander Dennis of Scotland; Wrightbus of Northern Ireland; and Optare, a relatively young company based in the north of England. For a time, Optare probably accounted for a quarter of the buses and coaches produced in the UK. Optare entered the 2020s under a new name, Switch Mobility Ltd, signalling its intention to embrace the electric era wholeheartedly. However, among the British manufacturers, it remains firmly in third place: according to statistics provided by Switch, it sold 33 buses in 2022, 44 in 2023, and 125 in 2024. In that same period, Switch’s plant in England has produced more than two hundred vehicles, the vast majority of which were sold to various UK operators, including Stagecoach, Arriva, and many more. 

Some 50 speakers will be making presentations on the UK’s CV industry over three days at the CV Show - April 29th to May 1, 2025.

‘Renault Trucks UK Training Academy’, located in the village of Whetstone, near Leicester, will provide accredited and manufacturer-specific technical training to technicians and apprentices, combining practical and classroom-based learning.

At the end of January, the European Commission kicked off a series of strategic dialogues with business leaders from the automotive industry to review regulations which set mandatory CO2 emission targets for newly-registered vehicles. In a press release, the ACEA alleged that car and van manufacturers could face fines of up to EUR16bn this year for failing to comply with the regulation. Cummins expects that a similar target for CVs – a 43% reduction starting in 2030 – will not be achieved without a drastic transformation of the market. Echoing the opinion of the ACEA, Lamb told Truck & Bus Builder that “the rollout of infrastructure for both electric and hydrogen vehicles is slower than will be needed to meet the 2030 target”.

The manufacturer built thirty-five highly specialised box van semi-trailers, measuring 4.9 metres in height and boasting internal tail-lifts, for Asda's clothing brand, ‘George’.

The ‘CT6000E’, which was developed collaboratively between Mallaghan and International, was unveiled at the Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

The key reason behind this warranty extension is to increase the competitiveness of its products on the back of a projected procurement of an estimated 2,000 additional  waste collection vehicles in the UK over the next three years ahead of new UK  legislation.

Turntide is integrating its operations in the northeast of England into a single engineering campus based in Gateshead and is producing inverters under contract with Kaynes Technology India Ltd for the domestic light-duty market.

Wrightbus’ ‘Streetdeck Hydroliner Gen 2.0’ was developed over four years as part of a project which was 50% funded by a grant from the Advanced Propulsion Centre.

The British bus and coach market saw massive growth of 70.1% from 4,932 in 2023 to 8,390 registrations in 2024; the best annual performance since 2008, according to statistics published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The post-pandemic growth of the British truck market ended in 2024, with registrations of heavy goods vehicles (i.e., trucks >6t) falling by 2.7% compared with the year before, according to statistics published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

The GBP 3.5 million investment opened its doors on February 13 and will exclusively train apprentices for the DAF brand, with 500 individuals confirmed to attend courses in its first year.