2r two years Ailsa's present sales of its front engine
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decker are very slow — and MCW are known to be working on a new design of decker using Rolls-Royce power units. But in such a fragmented market every competitor who attracts even a few sales makes things more difficult for the big boys.
Apart from a possible slump in decker orders caused by public expenditure cuts the "supply cycle" for deckers predicts a steady decline in fleet intake from a peak of 3,092 buses per year in 1976/7 to a trough of only 1,740 buses per year in 1983/4. These figures were compiled last year by the Confederation of British Road Passenger Transport and were based on operators expected fleet renewals. After 1983/4 the CPT predicted that decker fleet intake would rise to a peak of 2,557 buses per year in 1988/9 and then go into decline again.
If these figures do prove to would seem to be a bleak period for the bus builders. This would not worry Leyland too much as they can always fall back on truck production — but it seems a particularly inauspicious time to launch a new product into a diminishing market.
Leyland chief executive Alex Park also recently predicted a reduction in the decker market, "The cuts in public expenditure have not yet been reflected in decreased demand, but as Leyland supplies approaching 90 per cent of double-deckers in the UK, we are in the front line for reduced orders," he said.
"Thankfully," he continued, "we are out of the difficult days of 18 months ago when it seemed that every operator in the country was screaming at us for late delivery of vehicles and parts."
Perhaps if the B15 is delayed much longer Leyland will again wish that operators corm fnr riplivPrv