It is once again time to bring BUSRide readers up to date on the activities of Irizar, a very interesting and progressive company headquartered in the Basque country of northern Spain in the small town of Ormaiztegui.
It had long been a dream of Dr. Ferdinand Piëch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Volkswagen, to create a European automotive giant, active in all products from cars through to heavy commercial vehicles.
Five years ago in BUSRide, I wrote on my visit to the Mercedes Benz plant in Hoşdere just west of Istanbul in the small part of Turkey that lies in Europe.
Alexander Dennis (ADL), the largest bus builder in the United Kingdom, now has its eyes set on creating new sectors in markets with product gaps and opportunities, and need for shorter, genuine buses that offer reliability, durability and longevity. Chief Executive Colin Robertson believes North America could be such a target.
Bus industry innovation is on display at shows in Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain.
The Netherlands-based company with headquarters in Eindhoven recently launched a new range of Futura luxury coaches, and the Citea CLF 120 won the coveted Bus of the Year from nominations by the leading trade journalists in 17 European countries.
I recently visited Japan to meet operators and manufacturers. It was a fascinating experience, with many surprises. Until recently, with a very strong motor industry that features household names like Toyota, Honda, Isuzu and Mitsubishi, Japan was the second largest economy in the world. But now China has overtaken Japan, and it is clear the country is concerned about its much larger neighbor.
Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia played host to this year’s Busworld exhibition in a center on the banks of the Oka River.
Every two years I carry out much of the research and write a large part of a report which has become an industry standard; the latest edition of “The World Bus & Coach Manufacturing Industry” report is due to be published in June.
Busworld, the Belgian organizer of international bus and coach exhibitions, recently held its third edition of Busworld Turkey in Istanbul in conjunction with its local partners. A number of significant changes were evident this year.