Tractor sales grew by 55.5% during the fourth quarter in fiscal year 2020-21 (January to March) to register 8,413 units compared with 5,409 units in the same quarter of the previous year (FY2019-20). Tractor production increased by 72.5% overall from 4,970 units to 8,572 units and exports were also up by 24.2%.

Domestic sales of medium and large buses and coaches (7.5t gvw and above) fell by 56.1% in the fourth quarter of financial year 2020-21 (January to March) to register just 4,744 units, down from 10,810 units in Q4/2019-20. Total bus and coach production also fell sharply during the fourth quarter by 54% to just shy of 5,000 units (10,763). Total exports decreased by 38.7% to 1,211 vehicles from 1,974 units in Q4/2019-20.

CEAT Ltd of Mumbai, a full range tyre manufacturer, says it plans to make an investment of USD164m (INR1200Cr) in financial year 2021-22 to expand production of its radial bus and truck tyres.

Sales of LCV goods carrier (truck) vehicles (gvw ≤ 7.5t) grew strongly in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) and by 41.9% to register 125,160 units, up from 88,189 units in same period of FY2019-20. Production of LCV goods carriers increased by 42.8% to 141,939 vehicles from 99,408 in the same quarter the year before, and exports grew by 53.1% to 11,503 (7,514).

Commercial vehicle manufacturer, Tata Motors Ltd of Mumbai, has released onto the Indian market a new generation of medium-duty Tata Ultra truck models – the Ultra Sleek T-Series of T.61, T.72 and T.93. All are offered in various deck lengths from 10 to 20 feet to meet a multiple range of applications and are equipped with the 4SPCR BS VI engines used previously only in the LCV truck range (i.e., below 7t gvw), but are now fitted in ICV range up to 9t gvw trucks.

Ashok Leyland Ltd of Chennai has announced it is offering round-the-clock support for all commercial vehicles transporting oxygen as well as other essential supplies.

Electric bus and light van builder, Switch Mobility Automotive Ltd of Bengaluru has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Siemens Ltd of Mumbai, India to address jointly the need of electric commercial vehicle customers and execute e-mobility projects in India.

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd of New Delhi, one of India’s largest tyre manufacturers, says it has partnered with integral bus builder, JBM Auto Ltd1 of Gurugram (New Delhi) to supply radial tyres fitted with its smart tyres device for JBM’s CNG (JBM Citylife) and electric buses (JBM Ecolife).

Apollo Tyres Ltd of Gurugram, says it has now entered the truck-bus tyre segment in the USA and Canada and developed tyre range that meets the demand of the North American commercial fleets. It says it has a phased product rollout to cover some 90% of the truck and bus market by 2024.

JK Tyre & Industries Ltd of New Delhi, one of India’s largest manufacturer of tyres has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Automotive Test Tracks (NATRAX)1 of Pithampur towards the development of a wet grip test track at NATRAX Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt Ltd (DICV) of Oragadam, near Chennai, a subsidiary of Germany’s Daimler AG, has opened a Virtual Reality Centre (VRC) in Chennai.

Pune-based SCDE Solutions Pvt Ltd (Safe Cams Digital Eye Solutions) has launched a Driver Status Monitoring (DSM) system-based camera. The DSM functionality has been made available in three camera devices being sold by Safe Cams – SC 200 AI, SC DS02 and SC 400. While SC200 AI and SC400 models can be configured without a DSM camera, the SC DS02 has been designed exclusively as a ‘DSM-only’ camera.