Britain's coachbuilder enter a harsh new work
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Reports that the British coachbuilding industry will share the fate of our motorcycle industry are much exaggeratE suggests Noel Millier, but he sees an undoubted threat from the Continent thE will take some meeting
COACHBUILDERS, for so long able to enjoy a suppliers' market, have entered a new phase of existence in which they face stern challenges. The European market has contracted, and the 1980 Transport Act and our home economic difficulties have combined to confusing effect. A cloud of uncertainty has settled on the industry and they must now fight for every order.
This year's coach rallies will confirm that an increasing number of overseas contenders are seeking to infiltrate the independent sector of the British coach industry. Most seem likely to make only marginal inroads, but there are signs that some of Europe's coachbuilding giants could carve out an established long-term market share.
For many years Caetano and VanHoot coachbodies have been available in Britain for operators unable to get British ones or wanting something different. Both are still supplying the British through established coachdealers in the traditional way.
They have been joined by Jonckheere of Belgium which had previously marketed through an established dealer with little success but has now an exclusive dealer set up to handle its products. The result has been an undoubted success with Roeselare Sales selling over 100 units in its first year of business.
In another break from tradition, there are signs that an in creasing number of coach operators are interested in integral coaches — an area which at the moment is totally the preserve of the importers.
How do our leading coachbuilders view these ominous developments? I visited Plaxton and Duple to find out. Since the recession began, both firms have had to lay off staff but happily they are once again busy and report a much larger proportion of high-specification bodies on long life heavy weight chassis.
I asked Plaxtons's joint managing director John Birley just what was being done to protect its lion's share of the British market.
It was not being complacent, he said, and was holding its market share.
He told me that in the past Plaxtons had given operators what they wanted. He refuted suggestions that operators had turned to the Continent because they could not get what they needed in Britain. He spoke of the flexibility Plaxtons offered to meet operator demand. At pre nt, Plaxtons offers five difvnt basic coach body models an ever increasing variety of assis.
asked about the possibility of Plaxton integral coach to Ach machines such as the ,va or VanHool Acrom, but he id that it was too early to teal the new developments at arborough.
)Iaxtons does offer a very de range of coaches — a sharp ntrast to some European corntitors that only produce one )e of vehicle with one availle length and wheelbase.
However, there are some achbuilders in Europe which er even wider ranges of hides including integrals, uble-deckers and articulated aches. I asked, therefore, tether Plaxtons would be direifying even further, and am n was told by Mr Birley that velopments were taking place t they could not yet be reeled.
ie explained that Plaxtons is gaged in a programme of deopment that is intended to reimporters and then take the ht to foreign markets.
loving across the country to ickpool, I found the workforce )uple working flat out to meet ! demand for the new highDr Goldliner coach body. A ni-revolution has taken place ce I visited the Vicarage Lane tory a year ago. A new manement team under md .hard West has changed the e of the operation. Changes rt at the main gate where a sumptuous new sales reception area has been set up to greet prospective customers and those coming to pick up completed vehicles.
Sales director Doug Jack has an interesting approach to sales. He believes that his sales force will be better equipped to understand customer needs if they can drive coaches. Those who can't are therefore now learning, and will soon be taking psv tests.
Since the announcement of its Goldliner range, Duple has remained in the news with some large fleet orders, low floor city bus bodies and its plans to build the first British articulated coach bodies on Volvo B10 M chassis. As with its East coast rivals, an increasing proportion of Duple's production is high specification with features such as driver's bunks and toilets becoming commonplace.
I was told that high demand for the Goidliner had resulted in Duple taking on extra temporary labour to meet delivery dates and that the factory was at present on full overtime (a sharp contrast to my visit just over one year ago when redundancies had been announced and the plant was on part time working).
With export specialists Duple (Metsec) now in the field, Duple seems well placed to meet export demands and Richard West told me the intention was to continue developing this side of the business. He hinted that new developments were on the horizon at Duple and that his company was here to stay.
There is, therefore, I am happy to report, confidence for the future at both of Britain's leading luxury coach bodybuilders. The suggestions that the British coach building industry will follow the motorcycle industry on the path to virtual oblivion now seem nonsense.
There is also, however, confidence on the other side of the Channel, where coachbuilders plan to introduce new models to secure their developing share of the British market. The NEC Motor Show in the autumn will see the British introduction of Jonckheere's Jubilee body to complement its Bermuda range, which is now established in Britain.
Jonckheere's great Belgium rival, VanHool, is already selling its high floor integral Acron here and is soon to bring in its first Astromega double-decker to British specifications.
West German integral manufacturers MAN, Kassbohrer and Neoplan seem set to continue their penetration and Moseley's Dutch Bova continues to widen the scope of the integral with its value for money price. Padane, Berkof, Smit, LAG and Ayats and Brisa from Spain are all looking for business here, and there are rumblings that Leyland Bus might enter the home coach body scene, so there should be many surprises in store.
What do Continentals offer the British operators that they cannot get at home? Given that differences in price between high specification Duple, Plaxton or Jonckheere or VanHool coaches on a mid-engined "heavy" airsprung chassis are marginal, what are the deciding features?
Clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder and to my eye the squarish and established lines of both the VanHool and Jonckheere current offerings have a chic charm. I like their restful, although some might say dull interior designs, with simple carpet trim to the racks, ceilings and sides. I appreciate the almost total lack of Formica which has been favoured for so long in Britain.
But, say Plaxton and Duple, they now offer soft furnishings and double glazing as well, although I have yet to see either a Duple or Plaxton without Formica around its dash panel or without any chrome-like stanchions.
I have often complained of wind noise from either the passenger door or driver's signalling window on British bodies, but this problem, too, is being overcome. Duple are introducing plug-type entrance doors.
Incidentally, it has been suggested that in the past some British construction and use gulations were applied mo stringently to domestic produc than to imported machines, ar this could have put our produc at a disadvantage.
Are British bodies technica inferior? All use steel frames b the Continentals go in fi stretched steel, one piece sil panels, and glued in windovs Are these features merely cc metic or do they increal structural integrity? Both Pla ton and Duple bodies meet proposed strength requir ments, I understand, and mc operators know how to repi them, though to my eye the Co tinentals do have a minor ae thetic advantage.
In conclusion, it seems cle that the British coach scene sure to remain unsettlel However, with importe coaches becoming more car man, perhaps their greatest fe ture, their individuality, is dirr nishing. They have establish( strong sales and service tean here though, and I feel sure th some will take root.
Perhaps the continued comp titian could help both Plaxtor and Duple meet the challengi of the eighties and not on maintain their market shares b infiltrate the coach market Europe.
My prediction is that Briti! coach operators will continue • enjoy a wider choice of coac body and will keep vehich longer. As a result, the total ma ket may be smaller tha previously but the signs are th British coachbuilders will mail tam n their dominant mark( share.