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Müller Launches Rigid Off-Highway Truck MDT430 in Brazil

Fabio Ferraresi The Brazilian group that acquired Randon Veículos, the division of Randon group that produced OH Trucks and Construction Equipment, at the end of 2020 launched the first model under the Müller brand. It has a 350 HP Turbo Intercooler produced by Scania and an Allisson Automatic Transmission.
Source: M&T Read The Article
PSR Analysis: Whether lucky or visionary, Müller is well positioned to produce positive results in coming years. While mining activity in…
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VWCO Exports Grow 130% in First 4 Months of 2021
VWCO reported exports of 2527 trucks and buses from January to April 2021, versus 1084 units in the same period of 2020. Most of the growth came during April; the month was very negatively affected by the pandemic in 2020.
Source: Automotive Business Read The Article
PSR Analysis: As with other OEMs, the export volumes of VWCO have been better than expected considering only Q1 2021 vs. Q1 2020, period without pandemic effect in 2020. During our forecast planning in Q4…
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GM Announces LCV To Be Produced in Brazil
This pickup truck will be produced at the São Caetano plant using the GEM platform, the leader in the compact car segment with Chevrolet Onyx. This vehicle will be smaller than the GM S-10, produced in São José dos Campos, Brazil, and bigger than the old Montana. It should compete with Fiat Toro, leader in sales ant he Pick-up segment.
Source: M&T Read The Article
PSR Analysis: GM hopes to follow the success history of Stellantis in Brazil with a smaller, yet not compact pick-up. The successful…
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Müller Launches Rigid Off-Highway Truck MDT430 in Brazil
The Brazilian group that acquired Randon Veículos, the division of Randon group that produced OH Trucks and Construction Equipment, at the end of 2020 launched the first model under the Müller brand. It has a 350 HP Turbo Intercooler produced by Scania and an Allisson Automatic Transmission.
Source: M&T Read The Article
PSR Analysis: Whether lucky or visionary, Müller is well positioned to produce positive results in coming years. While mining activity in Brazil is growing with record commodities…
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Continental Wins First Order for CV High-Performance Computer
Frankfurt, Germany–For the first time, Continental has won an order to supply the commercial vehicle sector with telematics units that include high-performance computers. This means that the technology company now also offers a solution that can master the increasing requirements for connectivity, complexity and functional scope in trucks.
Continental will use its telematics know-how – already proven in the passenger car sector – to complete this order from Volkswagen. Last year, Continental was…
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European EV Buses Under Pressure

Emiliano Marzoli After three years, Alstom is halting their EV bus production. By the end of 2021, the production lines will be stopped, and unless a buyer will take over, most of the operations will be shut down. Twenty employees will remain active to assure maintenance for the existing vehicles in operations with RATP.
Just two years ago, Alstom was one of the winners of a contract to supply electric buses to the French operator. However, this was not enough to maintain profitability.
PSR Analysis: We believe that electric buses have a great future, particularly in Europe. According to our database CV Link™, alternative drive buses, including Hybrid, Fuel Cells and Battery Electric, will grow at a 22% CAGR between 2020 and 2030.
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Powersports Recreational Equipment Update
EDITOR’S NOTE. Power Systems Research tracks the global trends powersports recreational equipment, especially the electrification of these units. This is one of a series of reports on these trends.

Michael Aistrup The first LiveWire branded motorcycle is scheduled to launch on July…
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Forecast: Component Shortages and Supply Chain Disruptions

Chris Fisher Since the latter part of last year, North American heavy commercial truck orders have been extremely strong as freight rates remain very high. Both contract rates and spot rates are in record territory, primarily driven by consumer spending, a strong housing market and an improving manufacturing sector.
The anticipation of the stimulus spending and increasing vaccination rates for Covid-19 are also driving optimism in the economy. However, rising inflation could derail the improving economy.
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DATAPOINT: NA Scooters, 2021 Production, 431,900

431,900 units is the estimate by Power Systems Research of the number of Scooters to be produced in North America (Mexico and the U.S.) in 2021.
This information comes from industry interviews and from two proprietary databases maintained by Power Systems Research: EnginLink™ , which provides information on engines, and OE Link™, a database of equipment manufacturers.
Market Share: Dominating the NA market for Scooter production is Mexico-based Italika with 89% of total units produced. In second position is Honda-Mexico with 11%; third is US-based Go-Ped with 178 units.
Trends: 2020 production of Scooters in NA increased 10.5% over 2019 production despite Covid-19 uncertainties. It is expected that production will gain an additional 4% from 2020 to 2021.
Honda reported record low production in 2020, when it posted the sharpest decline in its 72-year history, declining by more than 5 million sales globally or 24.4%. Italika rallied after a bleak start to boost total production for the segment. Italika was founded in 2005 as a new emerging motorcycles manufacturer headquartered in Toluca, Mexico.
Increased demand for efficient and eco-friendly vehicles–along with the threat of rising gas prices–will boost the electric scooter market. Not only are scooters convenient and offer independence, but they also make for faster commutes as opposed to using other modes of transportation; electric models are also extremely popular. Expect production of scooters to increase 15% by 2025. PSR
Carol Turner is Senior Analyst, Global Operations, for Power Systems Research
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Enhancements Made in MHV Segment Data

Joe Zirnhelt As we move through the 2021 year, we at Power Systems Research are working to include enhancements within the data for our Medium and Heavy Vehicles segment that is available in OE Link™, CV Link™ and PartsLink™.
We have added several new fields to increase the value of the data to users as they analyze and further segment the markets. These enhancements, now available as of March 31, 2021, include:
OEM Assembly Information for Knockdown (Kit) Production. New fields including OEM Assembly Type (Kit vs. Full), OEM Assembly Plant and OEM Assembly Country which will help in the analysis of OEMs involved in knockdown production (i.e. Kit) where initial production of the engine and chassis are different from the final OEM Country.
DataPoint Reports