
For Prevost, 2024 marked not only the 100th anniversary of the company’s founding, but the continual innovation and dedicated community that have been the driving forces behind its long success.
Founded in 1924 by Eugène Prévost, a cabinet maker specializing in the production of church pews and school furniture, the company soon transitioned to bus manufacturing after Prévost received a commission to build his first wooden coach body and mount it on an REO truck chassis. Thirteen years later, the company built its first bus manufacturing facility.
In celebration of the company’s history and many years of service, Prevost played host to a series of events across the country, visiting many of its Service Centers in the United States and Canada.
“We have service centers all across North America and Canada, and these events really allowed us to connect with our employees,” said François Tremblay, President of Prevost and Volvo Buses North America. “It was a great way to create another level of engagement with our community throughout the different service centers and of course with our local customers.”
The tour kicked off in January of 2024, in Nashville, Tennessee featuring a multimedia historical exhibit that covered the founding of Prevost and traced the company’s growth and innovation through the decades. The event also included a special visit by “Clarisse,” a replica of the very first Prevost coach Eugène Prévost ever built.
The replica of the iconic 1924 wooden coach was a feat of over three thousand hours of design and production, more than 100 days of construction, and three generations worth of knowledge and research.
Construction on Clarisse began in June of 2022, when the Prévost family located a period REO chassis in Tampa Bay, Florida, and transported it back to Sainte-Claire for reconstruction. Months of detailed craftsmanship were dedicated to designing and building a historically accurate coach with final touches completed in October 2023. The replica was named after Eugène’s wife, who played an integral role in the family business.
“Clarisse became the symbol of the 100th anniversary,” said Marco Prévost, product manager, grandson of Eugène Prévost, and longest tenured member of the Prévost family to work for the company. “When we started that project two years ago, we had no clue that it would become this centerpiece of the anniversary. Now Clarisse is known everywhere in the industry, and it is a great honor to have our grandmother’s name right there as the centerpiece of everything.”
From January to May, Clarisse traveled to seven Prevost Service Centers in the United States and Canada, in tow behind the newly updated H3-45, the company’s past and present in tandem.
“The Prévost family really spearheaded the whole project,” Tremblay said, “We supported them 100 percent, but they really took ownership of making it happen. It’s such a wonderful representation of the company’s spirit of innovation and its evolution over the decades.”
Clarisse’s journey included stops in Goodlettsville, Tennessee , Winter Garden, Florida; Fort Worth, Texas; Mira Loma, California; Calgary, Alberta; Mississauga, Ontario; South Plainfield, New Jersey; and Greensboro, North Carolina. The tour culminated with two weeks of celebration, hosting Prevost’s luxury motorcoach owners, employees and their families, customers and suppliers in Quebec City and Sainte-Claire for an extravaganza including factory tours, food and entertainment.
“This tour gave us a chance to celebrate all the things that make Prevost what it is,” said Mathieu Claise, Prevost’s Head of Communication and Government Affairs. “It is really rare to see a company with 100 years’ experience. After all this time we are still here and are still innovating. That is due to our customers, dedicated employees and the pride that comes with the Prevost name. It is a celebration of what came before and what lies ahead.”
One of Prevost’s latest innovations is the all-new, restyled H3-45. Unveiled at the 2023 UMA EXPO in Orlando, Florida the latest H model includes improvements such as improved aerodynamics, increased driver and passenger visibility, a more dynamic driver’s cockpit, reinvigorated interior features, expanded parcel space, and more.
“When we looked at this project, we wanted to make sure that this product had something in it for everyone that interacts with it,” Tremblay said. “The operator, the driver, the folks servicing the vehicle, and the customer riding inside. We really focused on all these elements and how we could improve the experience for everyone involved.”
Shortly after the redesigned H3-45’s release, it began to appear on roads across the country. In late January of 2023, Village Travel was the very first tour operator in the United States to take delivery of an updated H3-45.
“We have been a Prevost customer since 1997,” said Jeff Arensdorf, owner and operator of Village Travel. “So, we knew that the newly designed H model would carry on that same tradition of quality and craftsmanship.”
Based in Wichita, Kansas, with eight locations, 200 coaches, and nearly 45 years of industry experience, Village Travel is a family-owned business serving the charter, group tour and entertainer market and operates a full-line travel agency.
“Our equipment manufacturer is someone that goes to battle with us every day when it comes to keeping our customers, drivers and mechanics happy,” Arensdorf said. “And that means reliable equipment. The team at Prevost has always been there to help provide great service and support. They have many tenured people that really care and when you do have a problem, they rise to the occasion.”
Located in Eastern Canada, Coach Atlantic Maritime Bus is a family- owned and operated business servicing PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the rest of North America. The company operates 250 vehicles, 500 employees and has been a leading provider of passenger transportation in Eastern Canada for nearly 20 years.
“We have had Prevosts the entire way,” said Matthew Cassidy, Coach Atlantic Maritime Bus president. “Running new equipment, running premium equipment is one of our keys to success. We want to make sure we have the best buses. We want to make sure we have the premium buses. We want to make sure that we are first in class for the equipment we have on the road.”
In June of 2022, Coach Atlantic took delivery of 10 Prevost H3-45 coaches, the first of 50 contracted for completion over the next five years.
“The motorcoach industry is based on relationships,” Cassidy said. “I have visited the factory, I have met with their senior management teams, and they all take great pride in our success. They are customer focused when it comes to making sure that we have what we need in order to do our job and to be successful on the road. That goes for the president to Prevost’s Service Team that supports us”
The Prevost service network is the largest in the motorcoach industry with coverage from coast to coast in both the U.S. and Canada. Prevost provides end-to-end support through its team of customer support managers, OEM-owned service center locations, and mobile service vehicles strategically placed throughout North America. Emergency response is available 24/7/365 by phone with PASS – Prevost Action Service System.
As part of its expansive service network, Prevost works closely with its customers to collect feedback and product assessments as part of its continual product improvement and development.
“That direct feedback from the customers is a huge part of what we thrive on” said Mike Miguel, Prevost Branch Manager. “What we are doing right, what might need some improvement, what we could be doing in the future, areas we need to explore. It’s a useful meeting because we don’t focus just on the praise, but we focus on what we can continue to improve. One thing with Prevost is we are always striving to be better than what we are.”
Prevost also hosts an annual Customer Advisory Board (CAB), gathering a collection of Prevost customers to discuss customer needs, industry regulations, and assess community feedback.
“When we do a CAB, we start by presenting what the coming product regulations are and how that might impact what we are doing,” Marco Prévost said. “When you have 10, 12 customers together, it’s more of a round table, they work together. It’s a two-way conversation and as a product manager, when I come out of there, I have data to work with.”
Thanks to Prevost’s proactive customer relations and advanced engineering, Prevost continues to follow Eugène’s tradition of breaking new ground. In April 2022, Prevost announced a new electrification program to develop a fully electric bus and a method of converting diesel buses to electric ones. Through this five-year program, Prevost will develop a new 100 percent electric coach The new electric coach will offer an autonomy of 400 km. A total of 115 jobs will be created during the program, while 650 will
be maintained.
“We wanted to look at the overall solution,” said Tremblay. “We are going to offer the total package in terms of facilitating charging stations, optimizing the roads that will be used, the autonomy on the bus, and servicing those vehicles.”
For Prevost, the future is electrification and beyond. The company aims to be climate neutral by 2040.
“It’s another innovation for us,” Tremblay said. “That innovation is so important for Prevost. We were in business 100 years ago and we want to be in business 100 years from now and we want to take our customer with us in that journey in the future. Together, we experience the road ahead.”