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AVE brings in Berkhofs
Page 19
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• Alder Valley Engineering is to import Berkhof-bodied coaches, and hopes to sell up to 40 coaches in 1990.
A new company, AVE Berkhof, has been set up to run the operation. It will show two vehicles at Coach and Bus 89 at Birmingham this month: an Excellence 1000 34-seater midi based on an MAN 180HOCL chassis, and an Excellence 2000 12m Volvo BlOM 49-seater. Prices will be £69,995 for the 1000 and £89,000 for 2000.
AVE commercial director Peter Rigby predicts this will be the start of "steady growth" for Berkhof in the UK; other designs will also be sold including a 75-seater double-decker, two of which have been sold to Thomas Coaches.
Ensign Bus, which imported Berkhofs until last year, brought in more than 300 coaches. Since then Berkhof
has expanded its Eindhoven factory to 21,000m2 and is building up to eight vehicles a week, with capacity for 10.
Early this year Berkhof bought a controlling interest in Netherlands bus bodybuilders Hainje, so AVE Berkhof could import Hainje city buses into the UK, though not for at least two years, says Rigby.
0 The agreement between Alder Valley Engineering and Berkhof marks the beginning of an expansion by Q Drive (AVE's parent) beyond bus operations, possibly into secondhand PSV sales.