Initial registrations of new and used buses (including minibuses) in Ukraine in 2024 decreased by 19% compared to 2023, to 2,241 thousand units, Ukravtoprom reported on its telegram channel.
At the same time, registrations of new buses decreased by 24% to 1,296 thousand, and used buses by 12% to 945 units.
The top five most registered new vehicles last year were Ataman manufactured by Cherkasy Bus (350 units), Etalon manufactured by Chernihiv Automobile Plant (254 units), Ford buses (191 units), Ukrainian ZAZ buses (154 units), and Citroen buses (122 units).
The most frequently registered used buses were Mercedes-Benz – 309 units; Van Hool – 103 units; VW – 78 units; VDL – 71 units and Iveco – 62 units.
The Association reported that in December, 330 buses and minibuses were registered in Ukraine – 30% more than in December 2023, and 27% more than in November 2024.
“This is a record number of buses over the past 35 months,” Ukravtoprom stated.
The share of new vehicles in total registrations amounted to 59% (195 units), which is 6 percentage points less than last year and 4 percentage points less than in November 2024.
According to the Association’s statistics, in December, the top five leaders in new bus registrations were Ataman (59 units – 10 units less than in December 2023), Ford (39 units against eight a year earlier), ZAZ (29 units – 2 units less), Etalon (28 units against 16 units) and Renault (10 units against one).
In Ukraine, buses are produced by Cherkasy Bus, Chernihiv Automobile Plant of Etalon Corporation, Zaporizhzhia Automobile Plant of UkrAuto Group, and Bas Motor LLC (Bogdan buses), but the bulk of their production is school buses purchased by regions under the School Bus state program.
In addition, large buses are produced by Lviv-based Electron Corporation (9 such buses were registered in December).
Chinese authorities are considering selling TikTok’s US business to businessman Elon Musk if the short video service fails to challenge a ban on the use of its application in the US, Bloomberg reports, citing informed sources.
The sources emphasize that the Chinese government wants to keep TikTok under the control of its parent company ByteDance Ltd. The appeal against the ban is being considered by the US Supreme Court, but it is likely that the judges will uphold the ban.
Pending the decision, Chinese officials have begun discussing other options for TikTok’s US business. One option involves the participation in the deal of Musk, who is a close supporter of US President-elect Donald Trump. Musk also has a good reputation in China, where the largest plant of his car company Tesla is located.
According to sources, in one of the possible scenarios, control over TikTok’s US operations could go to Company X (formerly Twitter). The number of TikTok users in the US exceeds 170 million, and the acquisition of the service could help X attract advertisers. In addition, Musk has founded a separate company in the field of artificial intelligence, xAI, and it can find application for the huge amount of data generated by TikTok.
Sources note that the discussions are preliminary and no decisions have been made yet. It is also unclear how aware ByteDance is of the Chinese government’s plans, and whether ByteDance, TikTok, and Musk have had any talks about a possible deal.
Elon Musk, ByteDance, and TikTok did not respond to Bloomberg’s requests for comment, nor did representatives of China’s Cybersecurity Administration and Ministry of Commerce.
TikTok’s U.S. operations could be valued at $40-50 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts. This is a significant amount of money even for the richest man in the world, and it is unclear how Musk could pay for such a deal. He acquired Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and is still paying off the debt taken out to finance the deal.
Bloomberg also notes that TikTok’s business in the United States is a valuable asset that other players are also claiming. In particular, billionaire Frank McCourt and investor Kevin O’Leary have previously announced their intention to buy the business. Other contenders may include Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. which is TikTok’s longtime partner in the technology sector.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy invited Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico to visit Kyiv on Friday.
“Good. Come to Kyiv on Friday,” Zelensky wrote on social media platform X, attaching an invitation to Fico, in which he invited the Ukrainian president to a meeting near the state border between Slovakia and Ukraine.
As reported, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to a meeting near the state border between Slovakia and Ukraine. Fico announced his invitation during a video message to Zelensky posted on Fico’s Facebook page.
PJSC Insurance Company Garantiya will be renamed PJSC Garantiya, changing its main activity from insurance to insurance agents and brokers.
This is reported in the agenda of the meeting of shareholders of the company, scheduled for January 28, information about which is posted in the system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market.
Also the company, in particular, plans to engage in other auxiliary activities in the field of insurance and pension provision, in the field of law, accounting and auditing; consulting on taxation, consulting on commercial activities and management, providing information services and renting and operating its own or leased real estate.
As reported, PJSC Insurance Company Garantiya voluntarily withdrew from the market by transferring its insurance portfolio to PJSC Insurance Group TAS.
According to the statements for 2023 presented by the company, its insurance portfolio of the company was formed mainly by payments under contracts of compulsory motor TPL insurance – 77% and health insurance – 10%.
The volume of insurance premiums of the company in the specified period amounted to UAH 33,993 mln, formed insurance reserves – UAH 17,645 mln, payments – UAH 27,214 mln. The share of the company in insurance premiums in the insurance market is 0,08%.
After SG “TAS” informed that since September 9, 2024 it assumes the fulfillment of obligations under insurance contracts concluded by Private JSC “Insurance Company ‘Garantiya’.
In December 2024, the general fund of the state budget of Ukraine received UAH 13.1 million of excise tax on manufactured and imported excisable goods, which is 45% (UAH 4.1 billion) more than a year earlier, the press service of the State Tax Service of Ukraine (STS) reports.
The State Tax Service noted that the revenue target was met by 104.1%, with an additional UAH 0.5 billion going to the budget.
In December 2024, the State Tax Service also exceeded the plan for revenues from alcoholic beverages and tobacco products by 109% (an additional UAH 80.4 million). The state budget received almost UAH 1 billion from alcoholic beverages produced and imported into the customs territory of Ukraine.
In addition, the state budget received almost UAH 9 billion from manufactured and imported tobacco products, which amounted to 100.1% of the revenue indicator, the state received an additional UAH 9.3 million, the State Tax Service summarized.
