Today's presentation and remarks on the results will be given by André Armaganijan, CEO, joining us virtually, Pablo , Operations Officer, and Eduardo Willrich, Legal and Investor Relations Manager, both attending in person. Please note that simultaneous interpretation is available on this platform. To access it, simply click the Interpretation button at the bottom of your screen and select English. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available on the company's Investor Relations website at ri.marcopolo.com.br, along with the presentation shared here today. All participants will be in listen-only mode throughout the presentation. The Q&A session will be exclusive to those attending the APIMEC meeting in person. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that any forward-looking statements made during this presentation are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Marcopolo 's management and on information currently available to the company.
They involve risks and uncertainties as they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors, analysts, and journalists should be aware that macroeconomic conditions, industry trends, and other factors may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We'll now begin the presentation with Pablo Motta. Mr. Motta, you may go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here in person talking to you. Indeed, we are going to talk about Marcopolo numbers in the second quarter. We had very consistent results. We are having a bit of a delay in the audio. Let's see if we can fix it. Quite consistent results.
We saw we had a production mix and a sales mix with more robust vehicles, coach buses mostly, and also greater expansion of our international operations that eventually contributed to a very consistent result and with very consistent margins. Highlights, I would mention the growth in our net revenue. The second quarter of 2025 against the second quarter of 2024 was about 18% growth. In terms of net revenue in international operations, we had, again, substantial growth of almost 50% quarter-on-quarter. Exports from Brazil, growth of 22.4%. As for our return on invested capital, 26.1% this quarter, net margin 13.9%, and net profit of BRL 321 million. As for production, we have brought more and more the topic that although we are delivering quite consistent results, expressive growth in terms of revenue, we still see a market not really renewing its fleet. This is very clear in this chart.
In the year of 2024, compared to what we would consider the ideal level to keep the average fleet age, which is the year of 2014, we see the production under those volumes in the first quarter of 2024 against the first quarter of 2025. We see a number very similar to 2024, with slight growth of 4.5% second quarter and second quarter compared. This is what we expected in the beginning of the year, a 5% growth. As for Marcopolo production itself, we see in the second quarter of 2024, vis-à-vis 2025, we had a drop in production. This has to do with a lower volume of the Caminho de Escola program. We had lower production than last year. At the same time, a substantial increase, 72.9% increase in exports and 12.4% increase in the production of our external units.
Looking abroad, we have the highlight in Argentina with an almost 400% growth in production. That is very much related to the transition of administration. Last year, we had the beginning of Milei's administration in the end of 2023. It took time for the economy to understand what was going on. In the first quarter, very low volumes, but as of the second quarter last year, we started to see growth. In Australia, a small drop in terms of production volume. In markets and in general, we have growth in revenue because we have products with higher value added being delivered. If you consider the Volare models and bus bodies, as is what I mentioned last year, 924 Volare units that were produced against 727 this quarter and 3,074 bus bodies against 3,073.
As we mentioned in the beginning of this call, we had a larger volume of coach buses with higher added volume. We see they today account for 39.4% of revenues against 31.2% in Q2 2024. We have a market share of coach buses of 46% to almost 47% to almost 54% this quarter. Within the context of seasonality that we have mentioned in the first months of this year, we see that in the second quarter, the coach bus portfolio was about 30%, and now it's about 55%. This makes us deliver more value in terms of revenues and bottom line. Here, talking about the numbers, a more consolidated total revenue BRL 2.3 billion against BRL 1.956 billion last year, about 18% growth. In Brazil, growth of 4.5%, exports 22.4%, and revenue from international operations growth of almost 50%. The highlight is gross margin.
We are showing our consistency and those along the recent quarters, and we delivered 25.7% gross margin, EBITDA margin 17.3%, and net margin almost 14% with BRL 321 million in net income. Now, I'm going to turn to André, and I'm going to stay here with you.
Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here virtually with you. I'm going to talk a bit about the market. On the coach bus segment, we are seeing good growth in the second quarter compared to Q1. We had already mentioned that Q2 would be a time of resuming sales in the market, having that curve of the first quarter's half year with lighter products. The second half, we have heavier products, but we are already seeing results in this quarter. We say the first quarter of 25%, 28% of deliveries were heavy buses, most in chartering.
In the second quarter, we see 55% of deliveries focused on heavier buses. Our vision for the future is a continued growth. We should see more heavy buses with higher value added and good results for the company. The backlog continues very healthy. We are talking about four months for new deliveries of products. This, again, maintenance of heavier mix. The international market is also growing. We have had very good sales, mainly in Argentina for coach buses and Chile, and other markets like Peru and other Latin American markets continue relevant for the company. For city buses, I think the highlight is the sale of electric buses. We still see electric buses not picking up as much as the market expected, but sales are happening in a growing number with a higher number of sales than 2024.
Marcopolo , this quarter, delivered 15 electric buses, 10 full electric buses, that is chassis and bus bodies of our own, and 5 only with the bus body, not the chassis. The idea is to continue having our product in different markets. We also see a movement of other electrification solutions, but I'll talk about that further on. The backlog is quite positive. We are recovering shares. If you think of the share of city buses, it was better than the first quarter. If you think of the renewal of the fleet and the opportunity in the sale of heavier buses, and here talking about city buses with back engines and electric vehicles, we do have a positive outlook for the next quarter. Micro and Volare did have a decline in Q2. Remember that this is mostly dependent on the Caminho de Escola program.
Most of the sales are for that. We also have retail sales that were not as good in this quarter, especially because last year we had very good sales of products for the Caminho de Escola program. To be clear, if you see Q2 2025 against Q2 2024, you see a drop in volume, mainly influenced by the Caminho de Escola program. When you think of the 12 months view, we see the year of 2025 with volumes for the Caminho de Escola program very close to 2024. We do expect a new bidding process at the end of 2025. Let's remember that the sales of this year are related to the bidding process that took place in 2023. Let's move on to the next slide. Can you move on the slide? I do not see the screen with the next slide. Just give me a minute.
I got it now. Talking about international operations, we see South Africa continuing to deliver positive results. Remember that South Africa, one or two years ago, we adjusted the structure. We brought a team that was prepared to develop and grow the operation. We had several investments in plants and people to prepare the operation for a growing volume. It did take place in 2024, and we see a year of 2025 very close to 2024, the company running at a new level with more productivity, operational efficiency, and volumes very close to 2024. Already giving you an earlier view, Argentina, a market scenario that's a bit more stable, brings a very good impact for us. We had mentioned that this was an operation that needed to have a fleet renewal. It still does. We see a city bus fleet that's quite aged.
There are also opportunities in the coach bus segment. We are producing in the plant only coach buses, but with the need of renewal. We had good sales for passenger buses, vacation periods, and with a more stable macroeconomic scenario, we see good sales for coach buses, which influences positively not only the local operation, but also the mix of double-decker exporters from Brazil. Australia, we started the year believing that it could have a slightly lower volume than 2024. The scenario has changed on a positive note. We are delivering a very close volume in 2025 to 2024, with a restructured operation. Operational efficiency is much more tuned in, and with a consistent backlog that we see for the second half, we are already talking about sales for the next year. A very positive outlook for the operation in Australia. More and more value-added products.
Our operation that sells to the federal government in Perth is showing very good sales in electric buses. Electric buses are more and more inserted in the Australian scenario with good profitability, and again, positive outlook for the operation in China. We also had the restructuring process in 2024. We changed a bit of the design of the operation without giant ambitions in volumes, but thinking of the operation as a strategic operation to us. Still, we developed some specific products specifically for our operations. We were exporting to Australia, also to other markets where we operate, and that has brought positive results to the company. China overall shows a positive result. Colombia also continues to deliver consistent results, positive outlook. Very true. In last years, we did not have a fleet renewal in mass transportation, but consistent results, and again, a very positive second half of the year.
Mexico, this is an operation that requires a bit more careful monitoring. It's closer to the United States. We see a deceleration of the company. We launched the coach buses. We have more competitiveness in the market than other markets, but we have to take it cautiously, especially because of the slowdown due to the movements in the American market. Let's go to the next slide. Talking a bit about the macro environment, we did talk about that, Pablo and myself. Seasonality is going back to track. If you think of Marcopolo 's recent history, because of the pandemic, of incentives to sales in 2010 to 2014, there was a change in the sales pattern. We would turn the year with larger volumes, but our operators work very much in vacation periods.
The expectation is to have higher volumes in the second half of the year compared to the first half. After the adjustments post-pandemic and post-subsidies, we see this trend again of having a strong second half of the year. This is what to expect from now on. The cost of money continues high, and what we have been mentioning is that our clients will only renew what's needed. We do not see anticipated purchases because of the cost of money. International exports are doing very well. Heavy vehicles are being exported to some markets and international operations after the restructurings of 2023 and 2024 start to show more sustainable operations. We see a positive outlook for the second half of the year. Capital structure and dividends, we are going to continue with our policy.
We are generating cash and with a net debt/EBITDA ratio more and more positive for the company. Investments, it's important to mention that our greater investment, recently investment announced, was in the plant of São Mateus. We had a positive expansion of the operation. We had almost 70,000 square meters of built area. We went up to 1,000 square meters. This is an operation much more structured today with the layout that is prepared to improve results in terms of operational efficiency. We invested in our chassis line. Remember that Marcopolo . is manufacturing chassis to Volare. This is combustion engines and electric products with the full solution. This plant is also manufacturing the new chassis. Always following our partnership with several chassis manufacturers, our plant is more prepared to manufacture chassis and also a better layout to improve efficiency and idleness. We haven't talked much about the Apollo operation.
It's an important operation. For 10 years, we already have a share in this company. Two years ago, it is 100% Marcopolo's . This is a structure that is focused on polymeric materials, plastic parts, especially to agriculture, automotive, trailers, and Marcopolo . itself. We are increasing the level of diversification. We don't sell just to ourselves. This is an operation with recent investments, automation. It is located in Farroupilha that is close to Caxias do Sul. It follows our social commitment. We reuse water, energy. We are focused on social development, and it is also important in terms of technology innovation. More and more, the industry requires lighter materials, more specialized parts. An operation with this focus, not only to serve Marcopolo . or to others, is quite important for the company.
10 years, again, two years, 100% ours, and this is an operation that is growing and is part of our research and development area in Marcopolo . Investment in industrial automation and new products, we continue to invest. We have been talking to you about plant automation. Very true, our product is customized. We depend on labor, but we continue to invest, especially in manufacturing. Our scale enables us to continue investment, and we are bringing more competitiveness with new investments in automation and products, which is a recurring topic in the company. We have a very R&D department in the company, and we are always looking ahead, seeking for new solutions to continue being a leader in the segment in which we operate. That's it I had for today.
I thank you very much for joining us and to be here virtually, and I am here to answer any questions you might have.
Good morning, everyone. First of all, I would like to thank all the analysts attending this meeting with Marcopolo . For 24 years now, Marcopolo . is holding this meeting with analysts together with APIMEC, which shows the commitment of the company with information in sadness or joy, in the pandemic or in good times, good news, and recently always with good news. This commitment is very important to us for all the analysts that follow the company to have this time in person to be able to connect to the company is very important. For APIMEC, it's a matter of pride, and we thank your partnership for this 24 years. Here, I'm going to give Pablo this platinum seal.
André, thank you very much for the partnership, and I would like to say that very few companies have the emerald seal, and you will be emeralds next year with a select group of companies. Welcome to the emerald group, and thanks for your partnership.
On my part, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to have this award. Okay, now we are going to open for questions.
Hello, good morning. Thank you. Congratulations on your results. I have two questions on my side. The first, I'd like to hear from you about the Caminho de Escola program. As you mentioned, you e the end of this year. If you could give us some color in terms of volumes that you were expected for the auction, if you think this is going to be as it was in 2023, something that will take a two-year time. This is my first point. Second, about your backlog composition, I'd like to explore a bit of your mix in the second quarter. It was much better. André, if you could mention something about your backlog, what is heavy coach buses, light coach buses? It was quite impressive improvement in Q2, getting to 55%. What kind of percentage should we expect for the next half of the year?
You also said that you have a four-month order book. If you could break down between city and coach buses.
As for the Caminho de Escola program, basically, the breakout volumes should be similar to what we had in the past years. That is about 4,000 to 5,000 units a year. Because the bid of 2023 was for two years' time, perhaps we are going to have 8,000 to 10,000 units. I do not have any confirmation of this volume. We had a public hearing in May, but there was no indication of volumes. They are going to see the intentions of purchases from municipalities in the next months, and we should have confirmation about 40 days before the actual bidding. We are going to see what volume is going to be for the bidding process.
We expect it for 4Q at any point, considering the times that we had in previous years. I believe that until November, we should have a new bidding process. Order book, especially in terms of mix for coach buses, we should see the mix being heavier and heavier buses. You mentioned our comment that in the second quarter, we had already 55% for heavy coach buses and the remainder in light coach buses. We should evolve to something that should be natural for the second half. That is 65%, 70%, 30% between heavy and light buses. We already see this movement in our order book. When you see the last months of the second quarter, we already at 65%, 35%.
Just to add to what Eduardo mentioned, Fernanda, two, three extra comments. Indeed, this is what we mentioned about seasonality.
We see international market sales that are strong for the quarter, which back up the comments by Eduardo. Chartering is stronger in the first quarter. We already see growth of heavier coach buses. In seat buses, we also see in the order book heavier buses articulated, electric, back engine. We do see a positive outlook, very much in line to what Eduardo mentioned. As for the length of the order book, about four months, which is what we experienced since the beginning of the year. The mix is a bit more towards heavier buses. This is both for coach and city buses, and for heavier buses, almost the whole year already sold.
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Two questions on my side. One more focused on city buses. You talked about coach buses, but for city buses, could you give us a bit more color about articulated electric buses and what cities have driven results more? São Paulo, you did mention that it's a bit closer to other solutions, so I would like to hear a bit about that. Second question, thinking of TIR and financial expenses, we did see that you have a huge evolution quarter-on-quarter, even year on year, although that net debt didn't change much a long time. Is there anything specific, any one-off that justifies this? I think it was $36 million to $101 million, just to try and understand the move.
I'll start talking about the products.
André, if you want to add, we have seen urban city buses with a bit more attention because of the need for fleet renewal. It is what we have been saying in all segments. Operators are working with the city administrations to deliver more value added to passengers. Articulated buses, a low floor, they have been winners in fleet renewal processes. Now, Rio de Janeiro, Goiânia, also including at least for the expectation of updates, more articulated vehicles. We are seeing products with higher value added to city buses, indeed trying to bring more value and better transportation services to passengers. It is not going to be all city administrations that will be able to do that. We need special lanes. We have to have infrastructure for that. Major capitals are more and more looking into this type of service.
About your financial question, this impact was because of some reclassifications in Argentina. For instance, we had the debt that were taken in 2022 to 2023 when we restructured the operation, and now we are settling them. We are exchanging intercompany debt to local debt. With the cash flows that are being generated, we can settle those liabilities. Both operations had this reclassification, and now we are having better results. It is more an accounting issue, but also related to the payout of debts for the future. That is now based on the cash flows that are being generated in Argentina so that we can pay out the debts of the past and for what was invested to recover the operation.
Just to add with regard to city buses, in addition to better services to passengers, as Pablo mentioned, we had mentioned that there was a need to renew the fleet in the Brazilian market overall. You know that the fleet had not been renewed in Brazil at the speed it should have. Now, with support, incentives, subsidies, we can accelerate fleet renewals. Several markets, as Pablo very well said, Goiânia, Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, are markets that operate with articulated buses and with better subsidies, more structured. We are having this change. This is very positive for us because these are products with higher value added. São Paulo was the major flag for electrification. We see there is an even greater flag, which is decarbonization, and now they are discussing other solutions. Gas-driven vehicles, biomethane is an alternative.
What is most interesting here is that it opens new fronts for Marcopolo. The company more and more is not only through its own development, but also in partnership with OEM developing new solutions. What we see is that some of the bottlenecks that we had in the electrification process, financing was settled. Now, infrastructure and recharging is a bottleneck, but other solutions are coming: hybrid buses, biodiesel solutions, biomethane solutions. The greatest advantage of Marcopolo is the capacity, the flexibility to diversify and bring to the market what it needs. More and more, we are seeing new demands for new fuels, and São Paulo is a reference. The bottlenecks the city had in the process have been overcome. It becomes a reference to other markets.
We see other solutions coming up in the Brazilian market that meet the needs of administrations and also our capacity to deliver to the market.
Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on your results. This is Fernanda from XP. Last year, when we held this event, one important point was that you mentioned that you did see some room to gain margin, especially because of an improvement in operational efficiency. We understand that in recent quarters, mix was very important for your share, but I would like to understand operational efficiency, occupancy, labor, training, because that was a bottleneck in the past.
Very good question. We always look into efficiency, and it is what we always say. It is a point that Marcopolo has as its main internal project. It will be very interesting when you do visit our plants on Marcopolo Day to see you're going to see our higher competitiveness. This is something that we have been mentioning.
It is resuming lean culture, working with shop floor projects to really resume everything that brought Marcopolo here in terms of having a very organized, structured process and really delivering together with operators, having executions that enable us to build capacity and deliver better. What is important is that this year we did see difficulties with mix, a return of seasonality. This was a quarter with heavier coach buses, and from now on, the trend is that the mix becomes heavier. Because of that, we're able to show improvements in efficiency. This is a bit more complicated because you have to work with the labor available in our plants. Practically speaking, labor has been better prepared and has been able to deliver more and with higher quality, which is very important for us.
We are not still at a time that in the next quarter, everything is stable and efficient results will show fully, and we are going to improve margins. No, mix stability will make results show. What we see is that capacity building and training has been effective, and basically, this is something that comes top down. We are contaminating all areas for this to happen. The idea is, again, to retain labor. We know that our process highly depends on labor. We have a level of customization that is very high, and today, we are not having difficulties in hiring people to work at our plant if you consider that we have quite a stable number here. Because of what we want in terms of improved efficiency, because we want to deliver heavier buses, we want to retain our people. This is our objective.
We want it to be a reality, and if we do need labor for the future, if we have some sectors that are more impacted than us, there is availability of labor if we have to hire. This is a bit of our project, but again, our project is to resume our lean culture and follow the principles of efficiency in manufacturing.
Just to add to what Pablo mentioned, that was the success formula for the company, and Pablo said it very well. Lean manufacturing is very important, especially for a labor-intensive, customized company. We do believe a lot in our program. We have incentives. We adjusted our organization structure to support the program, and we see that it was successful in the past to improve our results and operational efficiency. We see an even more mature, developed company with competitiveness and interesting solutions. We are focusing on culture.
Let's say that Paolo Benigni, in his history, always said that people are the most important thing, and we have to develop a good environment, positive, that is challenging, that is of growth, but this is what the program provides. We did have some changes in the leadership structure and the plant. We also worked with segments to have an even more prepared team. Another thing, the bus market is growing and is being renewed gradually, avoiding peaks that we had in less than years because of pandemic, depression, or specific subsidies and cheap money, low interest rates. With that, we have more stability. We have gradual renewal. You see this year with growth of 5%. That's what OEMs are talking about. This higher stability enables us to resume the lean culture and at the same time keep our labor, qualify our labor to bring in new levels of efficiency.
It's a gradual process. Training of labor is important for all players in the market, but gradual growth in volumes or Marcopolo and other bus manufacturers enable us to be better prepared to train our labor.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Ghiliani, a student from Polytechnic. I would like you to comment on the company's leverage, which is very low. Aren't you missing opportunities with that? In the company's view, what would be an optimal leverage?
Thanks, Ghiliani, for your question. What we have been working on is the following. Marcopolo has always been very conservative in terms of cash generation. We've always been a company that had a significant cash position because it uses subsidized lines of credit to run its operation. In terms of capital raising, we have reduced financial costs, especially connected to the FINEP and BNDES lines.
What we have seen in recent years is cash generation above previous years. We were able to develop good work in terms of margin recovery. Today, we have a scenario where possibly the coming quarters should get a net cash position. In our internal discussions, we do not have any significant projects that will lead us to burn cash right now. The idea is to keep the payout of dividends at 50%, which indeed makes the company work with a leverage position that's slightly lower than in the past. I think this is something that is the track record of Marcopolo Unless there is a very significant demand, this is what it is going to be. If it happens, we know that our operation demands working capital.
If there is an increase in fleets in Brazil and Argentina, because we know that the fleet is quite aged, if a stronger renewal is needed, then we will need cash. More recently, the Caminho da Escola program, for example, was a demand that would stay at 7,500 buses. This is a lower level now. If it were to materialize, because the Caminho da Escola program has a very long term, the cash would be important in this project. We are keeping the cash to be prepared for future operations.
Congratulations on your results. Very few companies are delivering what Marcopolo has been delivering in recent years. Congratulations to the entire team for extraordinary results. My question, it seems that 2025 is already certain to be a very good year. What about 2026? What do you think will be the demand and the expectations, the outlook for next year?
My second question, more for the long term, the company's strategic plan. What do you expect for the next five years? We know lots have changed. We read in the media that new players are coming for different segments in Brazil. We would like to hear your view about the competitive scenario for the next years. What is your strategic plan from 2026 to 2031?
Thanks for your question. As for 2026, there is not much we can say right now. We don't have a guidance already ready. It would be too early. We are analyzing the market to put together our budget for 2026. There was a point that is something that we mentioned in the previous question, which is the volume of renewals. We believe there is going to be growth in the renewal of the fleet.
The substantial growth is very important, not only for Brazil, but other international operations. In Australia, for instance, is very good. Argentina is also going on. The idea is for this to continue. In Brazil and international operations, we should see a good year for 2026. What is important is that in practice, this value generation at the end of the day has to do with serving the client as they deserve. Clients here, I mean our passengers. We see alternatives to buses today are more and more distant. Those patients in and buying their own cars for people is getting more and more difficult. Public transportation is here to stay. Remember, it is one of the most important items of expense for families. I think that we have to change the mindset for the industry manufacturing products and operators in delivering the services.
With that, we are going to have better services. This is what we see in the conversation with operators and also a political environment seeing transportation as a social right. We are going to have the tax reform, and this is going really to affect the transportation segment in terms of exemptions, reductions of the tax load. This will strengthen the segment, and this sum of initiatives will enable us more and more to see the sustainability of the business. Marcopolo is preparing for that. I would say that the financing of G8 was a major change in the level of value delivery. What was the demand in the market, what it showed at the time really changed. Now we are going to... Marcopolo has been working in solutions, specifically to be able to deliver more value, technologies, materials.
It is what André mentioned, the investment in the Apollo unit. More and more, we are trying to bring technology to reduce costs, but also to have vehicles that are more recyclable and also keeping the financial efficiency and productivity of our products. When we look at the scale of Marcopolo, the potential of developments, we are going to have better results. We know that it's not easy to run operations of large scale. To see, it's making each process to each mix competitors even difficult to run at the processes we were running. We have to continue to deliver solutions that are more and more differentiated to the market. We are talking about 2027, 2028, 2029. Automation to make more efficient the product as a whole. This is what we are delivering for the future in a structured focus.
If we implement now, we are going to be able to reap the fruit in the future, as we did in 2023 and 2024, 2025. When we look at Marcopolo's cycle, the market says the company has a cycle with a specific characteristic. This is what it is. We think that today it's different, especially because in the last 10 years, the cycle had very important events. First, the subsidies that substantially increased volumes, and then there was a negative offset, a growth of 50%, and then a drop of 50%. The pandemic, we had a recovery in 2018, 2019 of 50%, and then the pandemic, a drop of 50%. We don't think we are going to have such marked cycles. Growth for the future should be constant volumes to reach fleet sustainability, a fleet age closer to 10 years. Now we are more at 11 years.
Getting to volumes at at least 2014. 2027, 2028, 2029 should have growth, but not 20%, 25% in volumes as we saw in 2024. This makes the cycle not also to be a drop in 20%, 25% if the drop comes. Constant growth and some accommodation of the market, which is very positive for us.
Just to complement what Pablo and Eduardo mentioned, populations are growing. We have the flag of decarbonization. We are talking about Latin America and Africa. It is a solution. Cities, administrations are noticing that. We see that the level of subsidy in Brazil is growing to support public transportation. This is a common practice in Europe. The levels of subsidy for public transportation in Brazil are lower than in Europe.
The solution of buses for the long term is low investment, fast investment for infrastructure, improvement of transportation, improvement of the economic level of cities. You avoid waste of time. Population is growing, and again, decarbonization is very strong as an alternative. We always say that public transportation alone, even diesel, pollutes less than cars. If you have bi-articulated buses in Colombia, you have 200 people. That's the capacity of a bus like this. You manage the low investment that you have to put together the system and against immobility and pollution. The history is positive, and what we see in the markets is that governments are incentivizing the system. Also, interest rates today are very high. With the drop in the future, we are going to improve fleet renewal. There is another point.
When we take a look at the global bus scenario, the large amount of chassis manufacturers changed a lot. The pandemic really made companies with a tighter cash position, and lots of companies left the market. The global bus market scenario in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, the amount of players that are in the market is lower. That's why we have a consolidation. Marcopolo, a healthy company that is looking into its cash, is paying attention to its indebtedness, and we are looking into the future, alternatives, and expansion. We are not talking about plant investment right now, but we are looking into the global market and seeing where we have opportunities for our product. It is in our release. We talked about Europe. We are going to show a product of ours in the European market. For Marcopolo, the global scenario is positive.
We are investing in people, culture, investments, plant optimization. We see a very positive scenario for the future. I think our time is up. I would like to thank you very much for joining us.
Thanks, Marcopolo, once again, for this presentation. Again, for being here every year for 24 years. Next year, you're going to have the Emerald Seal. Very few companies have achieved that. Thank you. Have a good day. Thanks for attending.