The rebranding is part of the company's plan to completely reinvent itself going from light duty truck builder to producer of EV charging equipment.

The company is set to deliver a BrightDrop Zevo 400 and BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric van by Q4 this year. The vehicles will be produced at GM’s CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario, Canada.

Speaking with Deniz Cetin, Chief Commercial Officer at Karsan Automotive & Board Member at Group Companies at Cenex (2023), T&BB was informed that Karsan has bid on autonomous electric bus contracts (tenders) in Spain, Israel, Qatar and Canada. Deniz confirmed that Karsan recently delivered an autonomous bus to Istanbul which comes off the back of two successful autonomous bus trials in Norway and the USA.

With production expected to be completed by the end of 2026, the USD 550 million investment is expected to create 380 jobs and support the increased production of CV tyres, all equipped with RFID (radio frequency identification) tags that enable more efficient asset management, including retreading.

The Ferndale facility has the capacity to produce up to 850 ‘Vicinity Classic’ and ‘Vicinity Lightning’ (i.e., ICE and EV) buses and 6,250 ‘VMC 1200’ battery electric trucks per year.

The assets include production lines for battery pack assembly, battery testing and validation equipment, computer numerical control equipment, and module enclosure production.

The new test rig is specifically designed to validate its hollow fibre membrane products for its OEM customers.

Intellectual property, offices, and testing facilities based in Apeldoorn, Netherlands have now been transferred to ConMet, and former staff associated with the heavy-duty motor development have moved to ConMet as well.

Dr Gruner brings with him 25 years of experience in the industry, having worked for Porsche and Mercedes-Benz in marketing and strategy roles.

Vesco spent much of his 30-year career working at Wisconsin-based logistics firm Schneider National Inc.

The company now aims to acquire certificates from FMVSS, as well as the California Air Resources Board and the Environmental Protection Agency, before the end of the year, making its ‘P7’ vehicles roadworthy and eligible for incentives.

The company has started deliveries of its ATM 28T Full Elec electric yard tractors to Amazon in the United States, an order comprising 329 vehicles. The vehicles are produced at Gaussin’s manufacturing facility in Saint-Vallier, France.