At the opening day of the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hanover, Germany, the head of Volkswagen Truck and Bus said the company's new stake in U.S. truck builder Navistar is a "natural fit at the right moment."
Andreas Renschler told a round table that the deal in which VW bought a 16% share of Navistar was completed in a short period starting from March and that many shareholders needed to be involved.
Public transport company Arriva Netherlands has signed a contract with VDL Bus & Coach for the delivery of 228 Citeas, to be put in service in the southern and eastern parts of the Netherlands. The order consists of 151 VDL Citea LLE-120s, 14 VDL Citea SLF-120 Electrics and 4 articulated VDL Citea SLFA-180 Electrics. A further 19 VDL Citea SLF-120s, 28 VDL Citea LLE-99s and 12 VDL Citea LLE-99 Electrics are also to be deployed in Limburg. The Citea LLE-99 is 9.9 metres in length, making it a new length variant of the VDL Citea LLE, and it recently also became available in a fully electric version.
Under the umbrella of Volkswagen Truck & Bus, the MAN and Scania brands have determined clear principles for their joint development projects and have concluded a corresponding basic agreement. In future, teams consisting of engineers from both brands will develop core components of the drive train together. There will be common platforms for engines, gearboxes, axles and exhaust after-treatment systems that can then be modified by the particular brands. One of the two companies will take the lead for each project. The lead engineering concept ensures that the needs of both companies are taken into account, the individuality of the brands is maintained and competencies are clearly defined.
The order comprises 194 solo buses based on the IC 19.280 (RR8) chassis and 201 articulated buses based on the NG353F (A24). The chassis will be delivered over the course of the next three years, with the first part of the order being handed over this year.
The high-floor chassis IC 19.280 (RR8) comes with the 208 HP (206 kW) D08 engine and a manually operated gearbox. Depending on which tyres are fitted, it allows for a permissible gross vehicle weight of 19.5 t.
NAMI, a Russian government-funded automotive research organisation, has teamed up with Yandex - the company operating Russia’s largest search engine – and with Russian truck maker Kamaz and its partner Daimler to build a driverless shuttle bus.