It’s officially the season of new releases for the Australasian bus and coach industry. By the time you read this, it’ll be under three months until the doors open at Sydney Showgrounds for the 2026 edition of the BusNSW Australasia Bus & Coach Expo. For many brands, it provides a prime opportunity to unveil the latest technology and products.
Sege Seats is no exception to the rule. After multiple years of growing in the local market, the global seating supplier has a new range of seats ready to launch at the upcoming Expo in Sydney. While the new generation of Sege modular seats will be a grand display of the market’s local evolution, Sege can introduce them to the Australasian sector with confidence after putting them to the test globally.
“The range was first introduced in Europe in early 2025, allowing Sege to validate the design under real-world operating conditions before expanding into other markets,” Sege Seats director Ozcan Kuvanci told ABC.
This decision quickly paid dividends, with the European market taking to Sege’s latest seating product. The new generation seats were initially deployed on buses around Sege’s manufacturing hub in Bursa, Turkey, where operator and passenger feedback informed further refinements to create an exciting new model that is set to take the Australasian bus seating market by storm from July onwards.
“When you introduce a brand new product to market, you’ll always have some more research and development to do on them,” Kuvanci says.
“After testing the model under real-world operating conditions, we received feedback to improve the product further. We know that testing seats in a test facility is different to real world conditions, so it was great to receive feedback from real runs and make refinements to improve customer comfort.”
Another intriguing element of Sege’s latest release is that it differs from a traditional bus and coach seat. These new generation models are modular seats with the new system separating the front trim from the rear cover, allowing individual components to be replaced without removing the entire seat assembly. The frame also varies from a traditional Sege seat, with the new model being tested and deemed compliant with the latest Australian Design Rules (ADRs) around seating and seatbelt safety.
Kuvanci says all of this technology makes for a brand new model that elevates the standard of bus seating in the Australasian market.
“If you want to replace a traditional seat cover, you have to lift the covers off, which becomes much harder for mechanics,” Kuvanci explains.
“The modular design significantly reduces maintenance time. Front covers can be replaced in as little as five to 10 minutes, without removing accessories or dismantling the seat. For operators, this means faster turnaround, lower labour costs and simplified refurbishment processes.
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“Down the line, if a customer wants to refurbish the vehicle, you don’t have to physically remove the seats out of the vehicles to change them. Instead, you can change the front inserts while keeping the seats fitted, saving cost and time on repairs and retrofits.”
While the reveal of the new generation of modular seats at the July Expo will be a first look for many in the Australasian industry, there are some in the local scene who have already checked out the models. Following last year’s Busworld in Brussels, Belgium, a handful of Australian Sege customers got to visit the brand’s Turkey manufacturing facility to see and touch the seats.
Kuvanci says these customers were “extremely impressed” by the design and concept of the seats, with the Australian operators now eagerly awaiting their local release.
“Several units are already undergoing in-service trials across Victorian bus fleets, giving local operators early exposure ahead of the official Expo launch,” Kuvanci says with a smile.
While Sege Seats is all about its new range in Australasia, Kuvanci says the product launch also comes at a pivotal time for Sege locally. The business has undergone a restructure to support its rapid growth – strengthening aftersales support, improving parts availability and expanding its sales capabilities.
From aftersales support to parts availability and sales capabilities, Kuvanci says this shift behind the scenes is establishing the framework for Sege to continue emerging as an Australasian bus seating juggernaut. All it needs now is the new generation modular seats to be released for Sege to shoot to new heights.
“With Sege having grown so much within the local industry in recent years, we’ve restructured and redesigned our policies, procedures and wider organisation,” Kuvanci says.
“We’re now more customer focused than ever before. We have a very comprehensive product support program, while spare part availability is at 100 per cent in both Melbourne and Sydney.
“We also now do stock seats for local customers, meaning we have bus seats ready in stock to go around the clock. Throw in the new models and we’re excited about what’s to come for Sege in the local bus market. Sege is positioning itself for its next phase of growth in Australasia – starting with a strong showing at this year’s Expo.”
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