Cheaper Neoplan for UK
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• A cheaper Neoplan will be on offer in Britain next year if a management-led buyout, which has just won conditional acceptance, goes through at Rotherham-based dealer Carlton PSV.
Technical director Chris Lavin expects the £2.8m deal to be completed next week. He is already talking to Neoplan about selling a 49-seater single-deck coach into the UK for between £135,000 and £140,000 early next year.
Carlton PSV's parent, the National Express Group, has accepted the takeover bid subject to "various legal matters," says Lavin. It has been put together by Lavin, Carlton's sales director Bill Povey and an overseas investor, believed to be German coach manufacturer Neoplan. Lavin and Povey will have a controlling share.
Lavin, who worked at Canton for 13 years, wants to change the up-market image the dealer has gained through selling expensive Neoplan coaches. The standard Skyliner costs around £250,000.
"We want to introduce a bread-and-butter coach with a price matching Plaxton's Excalibur," says Lavin. He plans to bring a left-hand-drive version of the single-decker to Britain by the end of the year.
Lavin hopes to keep the 42 staff at Carlton, Neoplan's sole UK importer and he plans to continue selling secondhand coaches.
Nottinghamshire-based secondhand PCV dealer Stuart Johnson, was also in the running for Carlton. He says he has other business ventures planned, but would not disclose them.