The new products are designed to increase efficiency, promote the use of renewable fuels, and open the market to electric mobility in both goods and passenger transport.

Simões, who succeeds Lineu Takayama, will be the first woman and the youngest executive to join the VWCO Board.

The investment will expand and renovate its tyre plant in Heredia, Costa Rica, adding an additional 160 jobs and increasing production by 36% of its premium tyre range.

Creating an estimated 200 new jobs, the plant will be responsible for the production of the Global Scalable Brake Control (GSBC) and Global Scalable Air Treatment (GSAT) products which enable automated driving.

Volvo Trucks Latin America Ltda is introducing its new line of FH, FM and FMX trucks for compliance with the Proconve P8 (Euro 6) regulation on emissions, which applies to all vehicles in Brazil from January 1, 2023.

The clients include Opex SAS, a Colombian systems integrator of batteries and hydrogen fuel cells and Avia Ingeniería y Diseño S.L, a Spanish electric powertrain manufacturer.

All vehicles will have engines with Mercedes-Benz’s proven BlueTec 6 technology, which incorporates a more robust gas after-treatment system, and which reduces nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by up to 80% and particulate matter emissions by 50%.

The commercial vehicle market in Colombia continues to record steady growth: In the first nine months of the year registrations increased by 17.5% to 30,060 units compared with 25,590 in the same period last year, according to data released by Andemos (National Association for Sustainable Mobility).

The Chilean commercial vehicle market closed the year to the end of September 2022 with registrations of 13,829 units, an increase of 5.9% compared with 13,059 units in the same period of 2021.

The Argentinian commercial vehicle market was reported to have grown by 1.5% with sales of 11,746 units in the first nine months of 2022, compared with 11,576 units in the same period last year, according to data from SIOMAA SA, a data analysis company specializing in the automotive sector.

According to data from the Automobile Association of Peru (AAP) of Lima, commercial vehicle sales grew by 8.9% in the first nine months of 2022 to 13,750 units, up from 12,632 units in the same period last year.

The trials follow the announcement of a new manufacturing site to be built in Pecém.