Blue Bird lands in UK
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by Noel Milner • US bus manufacturer Blue Bird has launched its CS series coach range in Europe. The CS is a more competitively priced vehicle than the Blue Bird Q bus range introduced two years ago.
Conventionally built on a separate ladder frame chassis, the CS is offered in both front and rear engined forms although initially the rear engined model is being offered in the UK. Body construction is of galvanised steel with cold rivetted structure and panels.
Power in both front and rear engined variants is by Cummins B or C series six-cylinder diesels offering between 180hp and 240hp (134kW-179kW). Transmissions are a choice of Allison automatics; AF545, MT645 or MTB643, depending on vehicle size and layout. The rear-engined CS is available in four lengths from 10 to 12 metres giving seating capacities from 37 to 49. With a price tag under £70,000 for the largest rear-engined version, the CS is among the most competitively priced coaches on the British market.
Blue Bird buses and coaches will be sold in the UK by Coach Europe associated company Alan Wilson Bus and Coach. Coach Europe has been appointed Blue Bird European distributor.
Coach Europe's first European order for the CS is for 10 vehicles to CSAD Klicov in the Czech Republic.
The 11.5m long models will first be shipped to the UK to be equipped with seats by MTB equipment of Milton Keynes, before being driven to the Czech republic.
Blue Bird is the largest manufacturer of school buses in the US, with around 45% of the market and a build capacity of more than 15,000 a year. Founded in 1932, its management completed a "leveraged buyout" with Merrill-Lynch Capital Partners from the company's founding family in 1992. It has plants in Georgia and Iowa in the US and Ontario in Canada as well as plans for a new plant in Mexico. Traditionally its export markets have been restricted to Saudi Arabia and South and Central America. Since setting its sights on Europe in 1992, it has supplied vehicles to the UK, Russia and Bulgaria with further orders from Poland and the Czech republic.
It has also recently supplied its first right-hand drive Q bus to Malaysia. This vehicle is to form part of an alternative fuels trial in Kuala Lumpur, powered by a Cummins L10 compressed natural gas engine.