Skyliner's going out to glass
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• Neoplan is about to launch a further variant of its Skyliner double-deck coach.
The newcomer is a city sightseeing version with panelling made almost completely of glass.
The Sightseeing-Skyliner is due to make its world debut at the Hanover Show on 9-17 May, It is expected to be available to British operators later this year, when it has won UK Type Approval. Neoplan's UK dealer, Rotherham-based Carlton PSV Sales, says it sees no reason why the new model, which has the same shell as the 25-year-old Skyliner models, should not go on sale in Britain in due course.
It expects to be selling 12m Sightseeing-Skyliners as standard, with 9m and 10.5m options, powered by Mercedes Benz, Scania and Daf engines with outputs up to 320kW (429hp). The price will be higher than that of the standard Skyliner, which starts at £125,000.
Neoplan expects the new model's appeal to be limited to operators running routes such as the Harrods London tour — which currently uses two Skyliners. The first SightseeingSkyliner, for Berlin, is nearing completion at Neoplan's Stuttgart factory.
Carlton PSV has said that it has sold about 300 new Neoplans into the UK in the past 10 years. Some 250 of these are Skyliners, which take up to 79 passenger seats with a toilet and catering area.
Single-deck Cityliners and Jetliners are the next most popular in the UK. Tayside-based Stagecoach and Plymouth-based Trathens Travel Services are among the UK operators to have taken Neoplans.
Neoplan is also to show its 15m Megaliner at Hanover.
It is asking European transport ministers to allow the fouraxle double-decker, which has 94 reclining seat, to run on the Continent. So far Megaliners have been sold into South America, Turkey and Sweden.
Roger Dixon, managing director of Carlton PSV, says some British operators have already expressed interest in the unit (CM 19-25 Sept 1991).