Light Commercial Vehicles News

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• June 2024: Sacania United Kingdom announced the launch of an innovative new three-axle (6×2) CNG truck. This new 44-tonne 6×2 vehicle is set to become one of the most sought-after articulated truck formats in the United Kingdom.
• June 2023: The National Economic Council (NEC) approved the proposal by the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) for initiating large-scale production of electric vehicles and vehicles powered by CNG in Nigeria.

• February 2024: MAPNA's MECO and Tehran signed a deal to install 950 electric chargers, including AC and DC chargers, for light and heavy electric vehicles, which may drive Iran's electric vehicle market.
• With 96 stations, including 21 for electric buses and 75 for electric taxis, this initiative will significantly improve the charging infrastructure in the capital. The increased availability of charging stations is expected to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles, making them a more attractive option for consumers and contributing to the growth of the electric vehicle market in Iran.
• July 2023: Following a four-decade absence, vehicles manufactured by Skoda, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen, are poised to make a comeback in Iran's automotive market. The Islamic Republic has revised its car import regulations, permitting the importation of new and used cars, paving the way for five Skoda models to be available in Iranian showrooms.

• In April 2024, Li Auto Inc. introduced the new Li L6, a mid-to-large-size luxury 5-seater family SUV. The Li L6 model has a 1.5T four-cylinder range extender, a 36.8 kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery, and a 300 kW/529 Nm dual-motor intelligent 4WD system.
• In February 2024, BYD Auto Co. Ltd introduced the U9 electric supercar in China. The U9 Supercar is one of the most expensive supercars from the company. The new model can reach a top speed of 309.19 km/h and accelerate to 100 km/h within 2.36 seconds.

• May 2024: Volvo Autonomous Solutions showcased an autonomous truck at the ACT Expo in Las Vegas. The truck featured autonomous driving technology from Aurora Innovation, including high-resolution cameras, imaging radar, patented lidar capable of detecting objects up to 400 meters away, AI algorithms, dual computers, and additional sensors.
• February 2024: Oxa, a company specializing in autonomous vehicles, introduced a commercial self-driving bus in Florida. The Oxa driver software will support the driverless service in the United States, which is operated by American shuttle provider Beep in collaboration with the Jacksonville Transport Authority and Florida State College at Jacksonville.
• January 2024: TIER IV, a provider of open-source autonomous driving technology solutions, launched the Co-MLOps (Cooperative Machine Learning Operations) project. This initiative aims to accelerate the development of AI for autonomous driving.

• December 2023: Carpla, one of the leading car trading platforms, expanded its services for buying and selling used cars in several areas of the country, such as Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Binh Duong.
• May 2023: The new Mercedes-Benz Vietnam Star Hoan Kiem showroom, one of the top authorized dealers of new and pre-owned Mercedes-Benz cars, was inaugurated in Vietnam.

• March 2024: Cazoo Group Ltd declared its plans to shift toward a marketplace business model. This strategic move aims to capitalize on the established Cazoo brand and its robust e-commerce platform, which has been a market leader in online automotive retailing. The transition will bring advantages to the 13,000 car dealers operating in the fragmented used car market in the United Kingdom. Cazoo envisions leveraging its platform to create a marketplace that facilitates and enhances the interactions between buyers and sellers in the dynamic automotive retail landscape.
• October 2023: Assurant, a business service company, entered into a strategic partnership with Hyundai Motor UK to provide a five-year extended warranty for all eligible used car purchases. This is one of the longest-used vehicle extended warranties to be provided by a manufacturer in the United Kingdom.
• August 2023: Cazoo, the British online auto marketplace, released positive financial results for the second quarter and first half of 2023. This comes after the strategic decision to exit European businesses, focusing exclusively on its home turf in the United Kingdom. The move appears to have yielded favorable outcomes, contributing to the upbeat financial performance reported by Cazoo during this period.

• In March 2024, HORSE supplied its first 1.0-litre, low-emission engine to REBORN Electric Motors, one of the leading electric bus factory operators in the country. The engine will power Range Extender technology within the vehicle.
• In October 2023, Anglo American, in partnership with Andes Motor, Foton, Copec, and Linde, officially launched its first hydrogen-powered bus for operational service in Chile. This bus uses a 120kW SinoHytec G120 hydrogen fuel cell, is able to fit 47 passengers, and can cover distances of up to 400 km when its hydrogen tanks and batteries are fully charged.

• November 2023: The Lion Electric Company, a prominent manufacturer specializing in all-electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, disclosed the acquisition of a provisional purchase order for 50 LionC all-electric school buses from Highland Electric Fleets. Highland, a key provider of electrification-as-a-service for school districts, governmental entities, and fleet operators across North America, is the ordering party.
• October 2023: Blue Bird achieved a milestone by delivering its 1,500^th electric, zero-emission school bus to Modesto City Schools in California. The company marked the inauguration of its Electric Vehicle (EV) Build-up Center in Georgia, aiming to boost its long-term production capacity to 5,000 electric school buses annually. This expansion underscores Blue Bird's commitment to advancing zero-emission school buses.
• November 2022: Lion Electric Co., a Canadian manufacturer of all-electric medium and heavy-duty vehicles, announced the production of its first zero-emission LionC school bus in its Joliet, Illinois, factory.
• October 2022: Thomas Built Buses (TBB) delivered its 200^th Proterra Powered Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley battery-electric school bus to Monroe County Public Schools (MCCSC) in Indiana. Monroe became Indiana's first county to receive an electric school bus in the fall of 2020 and has since ordered 12 more, committing to electrifying all 85 primary bus routes with Jouley electric buses from TBB by 2028.
• March 2022: Thomas Built Buses and Highland Electric Fleets, North America's leading provider of turnkey electrification services for school bus fleets, announced an expansion of their partnership to reduce upfront costs and accelerate the adoption of electric school buses.

• March 2024: Bahwan Automobiles and Trading LLC (BAT) announced a partnership with India’s JBM Electric Vehicles (P) Ltd. to introduce a new portfolio of electric buses in Oman. The agreement was signed at the MENA Transport Congress & Exhibition 2024 in Dubai. The collaboration marks BAT’s strategic expansion into the electric vehicle (EV) market and JBM’s entry into the MEA region.
• February 2024: VinFast Auto signed a dealer sales agreement with Bahwan Automobiles Trading LLC (BAT) for the distribution of electric vehicles in the Sultanate of Oman. This signifies VinFasts initial operation in the Middle East region and also a significant step in VinFast’s global expansion. As per the agreement, from 2024 to 2027, BAT plans to establish and operate 13 VinFast stores and service centers. The inaugural store is anticipated to open in mid-2024. Additionally, VinFast will collaborate with BAT to sell four e-SUV models: VF 6, VF 7, VF 8, and VF 9 upon the completion of their market launch.
• July 2023: Oman Oil Marketing Company (OOMCO) announced a partnership with Synergy Investment LLC to establish Electric Vehicles One (EVO), which will be tasked with developing Oman’s electric vehicle infrastructure. The agreement was signed on July 3, 2023.

• February 2024: The authorities in Victoria ordered approximately 30,000 people to evacuate parts of the city after the Australian Bureau of Meteorology alerted catastrophic fire dangers. The state emergency department deployed firefighters in Bayindeen to control a bushfire.
• November 2023: The Rural Fire Service in New South Wales, Australia, reported that approximately 2,000 fire trucks deployed by the local authorities do not comply with national safety standards. These trucks do not have protection systems to protect their crew during burnovers. The Rural Fire Service upgraded or replaced 400 fire trucks to comply with the required standards.
• October 2023: Due to the effects of climate change, extreme bushfires were reported in Victoria's Gippsland region and New South Wales's South Coast. Firefighters were deployed on the spot to control the bushfires, which led to the evacuation of several people.