Volvo opens bus lines in Irvine
Page 10
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Bus production began at Volvo's Irvine plant last week when Volvo Bus Corporation president Bjorn Larsson opened the £6.5m production lines for B6 midibus and Olympian doubledeck chassis. The bus hall is adjacent to the truck assembly plant and re-engineering of the Olympian and B6 means that there is a high degree of commonality between the bus and truck models The Olympian was originally developed by Leyland and the move to Irvine follows the decision to close the Workington plant.
In its new form the Volvo Olympian retains many of the original chassis frame features, but has new axles and upgraded brakes and the choice of 189kW (254hp) Volvo TD102KF or 160kW (215hp) and 188kW (252hp) Cummins L10 engines, all meeting Euro-1 regulations. ZF automatic transmission is standard with Voith as an option. A three-axle version has been developed for export markets In its 12-year life about 25% of Olympian production has been exported, mainly to the Far East.
The 12,000m2 bus assembly hall can produce up to 2,000 chassis per year on a dock-build basis.
The best-selling BlOM coach chassis could also be built at Irvine if UK demand requires. Bus production first started at Irvine in 1975 with the frontengined Volvo Ailsa model, followed by the B1OM based Citybus. F90 on line • MAN will begin series production of F90 models fitted with its HS two-pedal semi-automatic gearshift system later this year. The system has been developed with ZF and Fichtel and Sachs. Details next week.
Student winner • Coventry University student Jonathan Taylor has won the first CM design competition. Jonathan designed a 38-tonne artic. Full details in CM soon,