Volvo Buses enters bus development collaboration with Castrosua

Volvo Buses has entered into a strategic collaboration with the Spanish coachbuilder Castrosua for the development, production and marketing of electric city buses in Spain. Specifically, this involves combining the Volvo BZL Electric chassis with the Nelec body from Castrosua. The first of these electric buses are to be delivered to transport companies from the end of 2024.

BYD is also cooperating with Castrosua on electric buses and presented the first jointly developed model in May. In March, Volvo decided to no longer produce complete buses in Europe in future. In September, Volvo Buses finalized an agreement with the Egyptian company MCV for the production of bodies for its electric city buses 7900 Electric and 7900 Electric Articulated and, at a later date, also for an intercity electric bus.

The collaboration itself will focus on sharing technical knowledge and resources to develop urban buses. This will include monitoring the quality of products, audits, and the use of more environmentally sustainable methods, such as circularity and recycling of materials. By the second quarter of 2024, the companies plan to deliver their first vehicle for testing under real-world conditions, and, as mentioned above, only six months later, the companies aim to make their first vehicle deliveries to customers at the end of 2024.

According to its own statements, Grupo Castrosua is one of the leading chassis production companies in Spain and this year it turns 75. Headquartered in Santiago de Compostela, Beatriz Castro, CEO of Grupo Castrosua hints that this will not be the last strategic partnership envisioned by the Spanish company: “We are very happy to announce our collaboration with Volvo Buses to manufacture electric buses, convinced that it will be a very interesting new proposal for the market and, without a doubt, this agreement strengthens our objective of achieving strategic alliances of value.”

castrosua.com (in Spanish)