Bus and coach deliveries were marginally down in the first month of the year in comparison with the previous corresponding
Bus and coach deliveries were marginally down in the first month of the year in comparison with the previous corresponding period of 2009, according to new figures compiled by ABC.
Deliveries reached 129 in the month, down 3.73 percent on the 134 units delivered in January of last year.
This dip follows on from an 8.38 percent decline in December and points to a slowing of demand after a record sales performance in 2009 when bus and coach deliveries jumped by more than 30 percent to 1,839 units.
Underpinning the January result were large deliveries to NSW operators CDC (15 Volvos and 7 Mercedes-Benz), Busways Blacktown (14 MANs) and State Transit (6 Mercedes-Benz), WA’s Transperth (7 Mercedes-Benz), and Victorian operators Mee’s Bus Lines (4 BCIs) and Sita Bus Lines (4 Volvos).
Despite the slowdown, January was a standout for the Nazarri family’s Bus and Coach International (BCI), which topped the deliveries list for the first time.
The Perth-based company – which manufactures vehicles through a joint venture in China – delivered 31 units in the month, ahead of Volvo (30), Mercedes-Benz (23), MAN (20), Hino (8), Scania (7) and Iveco (4).
BCI also topped the body builders list with 31 units, followed by Custom Coaches (29), Volgren (27), Bustech (14), Chiron/UBC (5), Coach Design (4), King Long (4) and Mills-Tui (3).
Thermo King maintained top spot in the air-conditioning market, with a dominant 38 units, followed by Carrier (24), Cooltek (22), Denso (19) and Coachair (15).
Some 50 percent of deliveries were for city/route buses, while school/charter accounted for the remainder.
A majority of deliveries were to NSW operators (43 percent), ahead of Victoria (22 percent), Queensland (19 percent) and WA (15 percent).
The full data set is available here.
And for the complete wrap up of deliveries in calendar 2009 see the 2010 edition of ABC’s annual bus buyers’ guide, BusSearch, available only to paid subscribers. Contact us on 136 116, or our Contact Us page, or visit our subscription page, to subscribe.