The S70 was manufactured from 2002 to 2017 and the improved S700 from 2014 to present, but the latter model designation was only introduced in 2019 and then retroactively applied to certain versions of the S70 built in earlier years.

[2] In this market, it competes mainly with Alstom and Kinki Sharyo low-floor LRVs and streetcars manufactured by Brookville and Inekon.

The Avanto was built for the European market starting in 2006 and was principally sold to tram-train systems which, in whole or part, share their tracks with heavy rail trains.

In Europe, the Siemens Combino and Avenio models are the preferred offerings for purely light rail or tramway systems.

In the tram-train market, its principal competitors are Alstom's Flexity and Citadis, as well as CAF's Urbos series.

[5] This first series of S70 cars entered service on January 1, 2004, the opening day of Houston's light rail system.

[6] At Siemens's U.S. manufacturing facilities (in Sacramento, California), only the model S700 remains in production, the last S70s having been built in 2017, for Minneapolis–Saint Paul's Metro Transit light rail system.

[2] The S70, S700, and Avanto have a modular design and can be built in a number of different sizes and configurations, including both light-rail vehicle (LRV) and streetcar versions.