Pentagon builds up to bodies
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Mi Pentagon Vehicle Builders, the Southampton-based van conversion specialist, is expanding into bodybuilding, less than a year after it was set up by a group of former Robin Hood Vehicle Builders' employees.
Last week the five directors bought the jigs and moulds which belonged to Phoenix International Coachbuilders, the Portsmouth-based builder which originally ran as Robin Hood Vehicle Builders.
Pentagon plans to use the same design of bodies as those introduced by Phoenix before it called in the receiver last May. Initially it will build on Ford, Iveco Ford, Leyland Daf and Mercedes-Benz chassis, with room for up to 33 seats and eight standing.
But it does not rule out the possibility of moving into the bigger end of the market: "We feel at the moment that the market offers us a very good future in the mini/midi sector," says director Eric Tribe, "but we are always looking for new opportunities and we know there is a good business for 41-seaters.
"Any expansion into that type of work will mean more capital to go into a new set of moulds, so it would really have to be a move led by market demand," he adds.
Tribe reckons the eight-man business will turn out around six coachbuilt buses, welfare and midicoaches each month, alongside up to 10 van conversions.