Scania Australia is celebrating the major achievement of delivering its 500th fully built-up charter and school bus.
As a major European OEM for the local bus industry, Scania Bus and Power Solutions director of sales Julian Gurney says the brand has delivered the most fully imported buses sourced from a mass-production factory in the region to Australian customers.
“This is a significant milestone for Scania bus and coach in Australia,” Gurney says.
“Thanks to the successful relationship with our global bodybuilding partner Higer, we now have more than 500 vehicles on the road in Australia.
“Scania’s offer of a high-quality body, built on a dedicated assembly line under the watchful gaze of Scania engineers and quality assurance teams, as well as employing the latest Scania active and passive safety and fuel-efficient technology, provides a recipe for success that really is unbeatable.”
Gurney says the vehicles have proven themselves to be popular in the second-hand market in Australia, adding to its overall ownership benefits for Scania customers.
With the buses able to be ordered with the latest advanced safety features, the 500th bus milestone is a major moment in Scania’s Australian history.
“We started with modest aspirations for the Scania-Higer A30 school/charter bus, which first arrived in Australia in 2010, but it quickly became a firm favourite of school and charter operators, as well as private schools, thanks to the high quality Scania driveline providing reliable and durable performance,” Gurney says.
“The concept of a Scania from bumper-to-bumper was a message that resonated well with the Australian bus and coach market, giving customers a one-stop-shop for all maintenance and repair needs. These vehicles removed the need for customers to run between bodybuilder or chassis provider chasing solutions in the event of an issue.
“Scania’s repair and maintenance contracts and Scania Finance Australia bring all the elements for a successful ownership experience under one roof.”
When Scania launched its larger Touring model in 2018, it lifted sales further given the underfloor storage as part of the model that made it suitable for charter and longer distance touring.
Since then, Gurney says Scania’s partnership with Higer has delivered premium quality products that have “stood up well” to Australia’s operating conditions.
“Another benefit of the mass produced A30 and Touring has been the shorter order to delivery timeframe and the ability to hold stock on hand, with only local options such as seats, CCTV, USB ports and electronic destination signage required to be fitted prior to delivering to our customers,” Gurney says.
“With production based in the Asia Pacific region, it takes only four weeks for the vehicle to arrive in an Australian port after leaving the factory, making it faster and more affordable than bringing built-up bodies out of our other factories. Higer was willing to build bodies to meet our local width and weight restrictions, too.
“The A30 and Touring have enticed new customers into the Scania family. They have been impressed by our dedication to their uptime and our speed at resolving issues if they crop up. With our nine company-owned branches in capital cities and our national network of more than 60 authorised independent dealers, we have excellent coverage across the key population centres as well as regional areas.”