Grande West Transportation Group Inc., a Canadian manufacturer of mid-sized multi-purpose transit vehicles for sale in Canada and the United States, recently announced the launch of the medium-duty Vicinity LT: a medium-duty bus, designed alongside customers, set to revolutionize the cutaway bus market.
Grande West will begin marketing the Vicinity LT immediately for delivery in January 2020 to Canadian customers and private operators in the U.S. Grande West believes that this monocoque body, rear-engine, low floor medium-duty transit vehicle is a game changer. The medium-duty concept bus was previously unveiled in October 2017, and after receiving customer input on the design, it has now moved to commercial production of the buses.
Grande West has engineered the 26-foot vehicle to accommodate up to 23 seated passengers with two wheelchair positions. It is fully accessible for all passengers in need of extra assistance and wheelchair accessibility. This unique transit vehicle, powered by a gas engine and Allison transmission, raises the bar for serviceability, maintainability and reliability typically found in transit vehicles with similar powertrains. This new category of “crossover” vehicles will provide a superior option to current cutaway offerings available to the market today. The Vicinity LT is unique with its monocoque design, true low floor, accessibility and provides new opportunities in a medium-duty market of over 5,000 units sold per year.
“We are very excited to be fast-tracking the Vicinity LT to the market,” Jean-Marc Landry, CEO of Grande West, said. “Similar to the heavy-duty Vicinity, management feels this is a very underserved part of the market. The price point of the Vicinity LT will put it head-to-head against current cutaway offerings. This addition to our product line will allow the Company to address a much larger market segment with strong demand across Canada and the USA. Grande West continues to design and build robust products for underdeveloped markets with real-world needs.”