After a slow start to the year, 2016 deliveries are looking up
For the second time in 2016, the number of buses delivered in a month reached triple digits during August.
Some 102 buses were delivered in the month, following on from 104 units shipped in July, according to supplier reports.
Though two fewer buses were delivered in August, the result is a vast improvement on the corresponding period of last year, which saw deliveries drop 11 units or almost 8 per cent between July and August.
Deliveries have been increasing steadily since April to be up 27.5 per cent on the 80 units delivered in that month. This contrasts with a seven per cent decline in the same period of 2015.
Leading the charge in August were Scania and Volvo, which accounted for 70 per cent of the total with 38 and 34 chassis delivered respectively.
Chinese supplier Yutong were responsible for six of the month’s handovers, followed by Hino (6), MAN (6), BCI (3) and Bustech (3).
Volgren continued to claim the lion’s share of the bodies market, with 43 units, up from 37 in July; while Bustech supplied 17 bodies, up significantly on the four delivered in the previous month.
Despite the encouraging upward trend, total deliveries remain down 21 per cent year-on-year, at 714 compared with 905 in the corresponding period of 2015.
ABC’s exclusive bus deliveries data will be available on BusNews.com.au next week.