Sales of city buses (many electric) as replacement vehicles to those in fleet operation in Bogotá led to strong growth in the passenger vehicle segment in Colombia during January to March this year (2022), with 858 units delivered.

FPT is the new engine supplier for the Delivery Express+: the new 3.0-litre F1C Euro VI engine, specially developed for the VW light truck, has an output of 156hp and a torque of 360Nm, and boasts a reduction of up to 5% in fuel consumption on previous engine versions.

The Chilean commercial vehicle market in the first quarter of this year (2022) again saw different performance outcomes for the truck and bus segments, with 3,898 truck sales and 398 bus and coach sales.

n the first quarter of 2021, truck sales in the Colombian market maintained its growth trajectory, which has been happening for virtually the whole period since the end of 2020, with 8,026 units registered.

The market for trucks and buses in Brazil in the first quarter of 2022 generally saw growth, although the breakdown by weight segment shows that results were mixed, as truck registrations rose 3% to 26,852 units while bus and coach registrations dropped 0.3% to 3,322 units.

The top eight* South American markets for commercial vehicles (3.5t gvw and above) finished in 2021 with a total of 254,200 units registered, an increase of 42.2% over 178,800 vehicles registered in 2020.

Mercedes-Benz came out on top in registrations of bus and coach chassis locally manufactured in and imported to Brazil in the first quarter of 2022, with a 44.5% increase to 1,621 units.

Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus Co Ltda ( (VWCO - Volkswagen Truck and Bus) of Resende, Brazil (a member of the Traton Group) in January said it plans to enter the Philippine commercial vehicle market this year through the local MAN truck distributor (also a subsidiary of Traton), MAN Automotive Concessionaires Corporation (MACC) of Quezon City (Manilla), the Philippines. 

Swedish pump specialist, Concentric AB, based in Linköping, has announced the closure of its manufacturing plant in Chivilcoy, Argentina. The firm stated that the facility is no longer viable due to the macro-economic situation in the country.

Loveland, Colorado-based electrification specialist Lightning eMotors Inc has announced it is now offering the Lightning eChassis for Class 4 and 5 commercial vehicles.

2021 marked the ninth year where the Volvo FH 540 heavy truck was the best-selling truck across all categories in the Brazilian market. Between January and December, there were 8,935 units registered

Despite many manufacturing challenges during 2021 including component supply chain and worker shortages due to COVID leading to full production line stoppages, the Brazilian truck market grew almost 43%, according to data collated and supplied by Fenabrave