Bova boosts CW midi
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• Metro-Cammell Weymann has reached an important export agreement with Dutch bus and coach manufacturer Bova, under which Bova becomes European agent for MCWs Metrorider midibus.
The agreement, announced this week at the Frankfurt Show, will boost Metrorider production by around 30%. Bova will sell a specially adapted coach version of the vehicle in all European countries bar the UK and Ireland.
Bova is seeking type approval for the Bova MCW Metrorider in European countries in which it has sales and service points. The Dutch company expects to sell five of the vehicles each week during next year's April-to-June coachbuying season.
The European version of the Metrorider is 140mm wider and has 600mm longer wheelbase than its British counterpart.
This is to allow the body to accommodate 24 coach seats.
An air/hydraulic braking system is retained for the Bova Metrorider, but in place of the disc front/drum rear system is an all-round Lucas Girling reaction beam disc-brake system, like that fitted in the latest Iveco Ford Cargo.
MCW says it had to update the braking system for European use as a coach, and therefore it made sense to switch to the latest discs.
The Cummins 6BT, sixcylinder, 5.9 litre engine is used to power the Bova Metrorider. It produces up to 108kW (147bhp), driving through a ZF S5-35/2 fivespeed synchromesh gearbox.
MCW is producing 16-18 Metroriders a week, and about a quarter of these are fitted with a Perkins Phaser engine in place of the Cummins.