After a magnificent year of growth in the Australian market in 2023, Irizar Asia Pacific backed it up in 2024 with another impressive year. While forging through constant supply chain challenges, the bodybuilder managed to improve on its stellar 2023 deliveries to remain a dominant presence in the bodybuilding market.
“After recording 171 deliveries last year, we managed to surpass it in 2024, so it’s been great to sustain those numbers and grow slightly again,” Irizar Asia Pacific managing director Steve Heanes told ABC.
“The important part is we also have a large order book for 2025. Our continued success is around not just our product offering, but also our emphasis on service and aftersales – it’s in this latter part where we see ourselves maintaining our current volume while supporting customers.”
Coming with this growth was a raft of highlights for Irizar in 2024. In late March, Irizar’s rise was officially confirmed when it held an industry event to open its new and expanded headquarters in Pakenham, Victoria.
Heanes says the new site is Irizar’s most significant moment in its Australian history to date since it changed following a distributor agreement in 2013 to become Irizar Asia Pacific.
“From that day forward, we’ve strived to do the very best that we can in products, technology, safety and aftersales service,” he says.
“The learning curve was steep and we’ve accomplished great things so far. In 2022 we needed to grow the business and we delivered 121 units to finish number four in the bodybuilder market.
“While 2023 was a tough year for the company and a lot of people, we overcame the hurdles in front of us to deliver 171 vehicles and receive a 25.2 per cent market share.”
Following this massive announcement, Irizar then put its focus into its service area, increasing its service vans and staff to ensure aftersales support was at an all-time high for local customers. These multiple tangents have allowed Irizar to reach a strong volume point and exceed previous records.
“Another focus was completing product projects in the background on reducing the weight of our models,” Heanes says.
“This has rolled out in the fourth quarter of this year, with our target being to reach a 400kg total weight reduction.”
This has coincided with the release of Irizar’s hybrid bus model alongside chassis builder Scania, which is providing a stepping stone to reduce emissions after being unveiled at the National Bus and Coach Show in Brisbane.
With this product now out in the market, Heanes is expecting a strong uptake in it to create a balanced and diverse vehicle range.
“The show was a great milestone for us as we got awesome industry feedback, while the release of our hybrid model was a major moment,” Heanes says.
“The supply chain is mixed, so we’ll focus on working with our shipping partners to decrease any challenges.”
What to look forward to in 2025
When asked about the year ahead, Heanes was cagey after detailing a string of maintenance products that Irizar will launch. With new coach and charter vehicles including improved safety features also in the works for late 2025, another project is bubbling away under the service for the growing bodybuilder.
“We’re looking to expand our alternative fuel offerings, but rather than focusing on the traditional electric bus market, we’re more interested in developing e-trams, which align better with our goals,” Heanes says.
“We’re interested in the bus rapid transit (BRT) scenario and 18m long vehicles, but we can’t say much more than that at the moment.”