WA Dashes to off-the-peg midi designs
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• Scottish coachbuilder Walter Alexander is targeting smaller bus and coach operators for the first time with a ready-made package aimed at operators running up to 10 vehicles.
The Falkirk-based manufacturer is bulk buying the materials for its Dash midi body and hopes to reduce costs and delivery times.
"It's the first time the company has aimed itself at smaller customers," says Alexander. The days of the very big orders from larger customers is passing by and we've had to adapt to the changing market." About 300 of the vehicles are already being built for Stagecoach.
Within the next few months the company will introduce offthe-peg versions of its full Alexander range of minibus, midibus, full-size single-deck and double-deck body designs.
It started with the 9.8m Dash because of growing interest in midis built to big bus standards, says Alexander's director sales and marketing, Frank Pitkin.
"Many operators think primarily of Alexander as a highvolume coachbuilder dealing only with larger customers," he says. "While this may have been the case, our expanding product range, and the changing patterns of bus buying, have encouraged us to produce a package aimed at the operator requiring just a few buses, but wanting them quickly and looking for the security of buying from Alexander, who are the UK's biggest bus bodybuilders."
The workforce at WA's Falkirk plant is being increased by 50 to 565.