This being one of the biggest orders for its luxury coaches, the vehicles are to be built in full at the Volvo Buses India factory in Hoskote in accordance with the Automotive Indian Standard (Code AIS 119).

Orders totalling 2,575 vehicles have been placed with the two OEMs.

At Excon 23, there were several OEMs displaying new heavy trucks at the show including Mahindra Truck & Bus Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd and Scania Commercial Vehicles India Pvt Ltd.

Under this recognition certification, Tata Motors can now claim incentives to enhance and expand production of M3 category3 electric buses.

The trucks arrive in CKD kit form from the HQ and factory in Sodertalje for assembly at Scania’s factory in Narasapura, Karnataka State, India. The tipper body is built and supplied by SSAB Swedish Steel (India) Pvt Ltd (a subsidiary of SSAB, Sweden) of Bengaluru.

Netradyne is to fit its Driver•i1 AI (Fleet Camera System) onto gas trucks supplied by Blue Energy.

It is understood that cab and based chassis for the Rhino 5536e is a re-engineered chassis cab from China. It offers a gross combined vehicle weight (GCVW) of 55 tons is powered by a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) that develops maximum output of 360hp @ 1200 rev/min and torque of 2400Nm @ 600 rev/min.

MoRTH has issued a new regulation mandating that the trucks manufactured on and after October 1, 2025, must be fitted with air conditioning for drivers; the new regulation will apply to trucks above 3.5 tons gross vehicle weight (GVW) – applies to trucks in the N2 and N31 categories.

Total haulage tractor sales increased by 38.8% in the first three quarters (April to December) of fiscal year (FY) 2023-24.

Tractor sales grow overall by 25.3% during the third quarter of FY 2023-24 compared the same quarter of the previous year (FY 2022-23).

Domestic sales of buses and coach of 7.5t gvw and above, finished the third quarter (October to December) of the fiscal year 2023-24 up by 28.8% with registrations of 10,799 units; this compares with 8,387 units in Q3 of FY 2022-23.

Sales of buses and coaches (7.5t & above) increased by 37.7% in first three quarters (April to December) of fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 to register 33,088 units compared with 24,025 units in same three quarter period of 2022-23.