Wrightbus
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| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Ballymena, Northern Ireland |
| Products | Bus and coach manufacturer |
| Employees | 1,800 (2014) |
| Website | www.wrightbus.com |
Wrightbus is a British coachbuilder and pioneer of the low-floor bus based in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, it was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and currently run by his son William Wright.
History
Wright Cityranger bodied Mercedes-Benz O405 at Shudehill Interchange in July 2007
First Somerset & Avon Wright Renown bodied Volvo B10BLE in Bristol in June 2011
Nottingham City Transport Scania L94UA in Nottingham in January 2003
Buses of Somerset Wright Eclipse Urban bodied Volvo B7RLE in Minehead in August 2014
Lothian Buses Wright Eclipse Gemini bodied Volvo B7TL in Edinburgh in April 2010
Metroline New Routemaster at Notting Hill on route 390 in December 2013
Yellow Buses Wright StreetLite in August 2014
Arriva North West Wright Eclipse Gemini 3 bodied Volvo B5L in Brighton-le-Sands in March 2013
Wrightbus was founded in 1946 as Robert Wright & Son Coachbuilders. In its early years it rebodied lorries. In 1978, the company released its first aluminium-structured bus bodywork.
Wright’s breakthrough into the mainstream bus bodybuilding sector came in the early 1990s. The Handybus was a midibus body offered on a variety of chassis but was most successful on the emerging Dennis Dart attracting reasonably sized orders from a variety of operators including London Buses, Go Ahead Northern, Ulsterbus and Citybus (Belfast). This was followed by a move into the full size single deck market with the Endeavourbody which was fitted to Dennis Javelin, Leyland Tiger and Scania K93 chassis, and enabled Wright to develop its highly successful Endurance body which competed with the Alexander Strider and Northern Counties Paladin for orders on Volvo B10B and Scania N113 CRB chassis.
Other Wright products introduced in this period included two Mercedes-Benz-based products, the O405 based Cityranger and the OH1416 based Urbanranger. This was launched around the time bus operators in the UK began switching to low floor chassis. As a consequence the Urbanranger only attracted a handful of orders. However Wright had become well established in the bus bodybuilding sector by then and was more than able to exploit the opportunities the low-floor revolution would offer it from mid-1990s onwards.
Low-floor
In 1993, the Pathfinder on low floor Dennis Lance SLF and Scania N113 CRL chassis was unveiled.
The Axcess-Ultralow was introduced in 1995 and offered on the Scania L113 chassis. At this time it was selling in reasonable numbers to UK bus operators, but unlike other bodybuilders who could only offer the L113 with step-entrance bodies, Wright modified it by removing the middle section of the chassis and thus offered UK bus operators one of the first mainstream low-floor body/chassis combinations. A major customer for the Axcess-Ultralow was FirstGroup taking approximately 240.
Next up was the Volvo B10L-based Liberator introduced at the end of 1995. Notable came from the National Express Group who ordered 120 Liberators in 1997.
Next came the Renown body built on the Volvo B10BLE which went on to become the standard bus of the Blazefield Group. However Renown production was stopped when the B10BLE was replaced by the Volvo B7L on the new Wright Eclipse (now Wright Eclipse Metro), which due to its vertical rear engine wasn’t popular with many operators. However Wright didn’t lose custom and many operators including the likes of Ulsterbus simply switched to the incline-engined Scania L94UB, on a similar Wright Solar body. Another bodywork, which resembles the current Solar/Eclipse range is the Meridian, which is bodied on the new MAN A22 full low-floor single-deck chassis.
Present
The most distinctive product of Wright is the New Routemaster London bus, introduced on 27 February 2012 as an update of the AEC Routemaster.
The first Wright Eclipse Gemini double-decker was first built on the Volvo B7TL chassis in 2001. A similarly styled bus entered service with Arriva London in August 2001 as the Wright Pulsar Gemini on the VDL DB250 chassis. Large operators of Gemini-bodied buses include Arriva, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group, Lothian Buses and National Express.
Since May 2013, Wrightbus has also built its own chassis.
Exports
In 1997, an order for 25 Wright Crusader bodied Dennis Darts were delivered to Australian operator ACTION. Between 2003 and 2006, Kowloon Motor Bus received a total of 164 Wrightbus three-axle double-deckers, 100 of them were on Volvo Super Olympian and 64 of them were on Volvo B9TL chassis. In 2009, Kowloon Motor Bus had order a total 291 buses which including one demonstrator with 2-axle and all buses were in service in 2012. In 2010, the first of 450 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs was delivered to SBS Transit, Singapore till end 2012.
In 2011, Wrightbus International was established. A contract was awarded by SBS Transit for 550 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs and delivered since January 2013 till Mid 2015. In November 2012, a contract for 50 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvos was awarded by Kowloon Motor Bus. These are being sent in ckd form from Ireland and assembled in China and followed by another 85, including two 12.8-metre-long demonstrators. In September 2013, Wrightbus entered into a partnership with Daimler Buses to manufacture buses in India.
In March 2014, orders were secured from Citybus and New World First Bus for 51 Volvo B9TLs. These are being sent in ckd form from Ireland and assembled in Malaysia. In July 2014, SBS Transit ordered a further 415 Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs which will be deliver from July 2015 till Mid 2017, increasing the total to 1,415 by 2017.
Products
Current
Gemini 3 (based on Volvo B5TL, Volvo B5LH)
StreetCar RTV (based on Volvo B7LA)
- StreetDeck (integral double deck)
StreetLite (integral mini/midibus)
- StreetLite Max (integral single deck)
New Routemaster Transport for London bus
Former
Single deck
Axcess-Floline (for Scania L94)
Axcess-Ultralow (for Scania L113CRL)
Cadet (for DAF/VDL SB120)
- Cityranger (for Mercedes-Benz O405)
- Commander (for DAF/VDL SB200)
- Consort (on Leyland 9-13R Roadrunner, possibly others)
- Contour (on Bedford Y-Series and others)
Crusader (for Dennis Dart SLF, Volvo B6LE)
Crusader 2 (for Volvo B6BLE)
Eclipse Metro/Eclipse Fusion (for Volvo B7L/B7LA)
Eclipse Urban/Eclipse 2 (for Volvo B7RLE)
- Eclipse Commuter (high-floor, low-entry semi-coach body for Volvo B7RLE)
Eclipse SchoolRun (school bus bodywork for Volvo B7R)
- Endeavour (for Leyland Tiger, Scania K93)
Electrocity (hybrid-powered single-decker bus based on DAF/VDL SB120)
Endurance (for Volvo B10B, Scania N113CRB)
- Explorer (the name was later dropped, for Volvo Super Olympian)
Fusion (for Volvo B10LA)
Handybus (for Dennis Dart, Leyland Swift)
Liberator (for Volvo B10L)
Meridian (for MAN A22)
- Nimbus (for Mercedes-Benz T2 and Renault S75 van derived chassis)
Pathfinder (for Dennis Lance SLF, Scania N113CRL)
Pulsar/Pulsar 2 (for VDL SB200)
- Wright Pulsar 2 HEV
Renown (for Volvo B10BLE)
- Royale (unique, on Leyland Leopard chassis)
Solar (for Scania L94, Scania K-series single decker)
- TT (mainly on Bedford chassis)
Urbanranger (variant of Endurance for Mercedes-Benz OH1416)
Double deck
Eclipse Gemini/Eclipse Gemini 2 (for Volvo B7TL, Volvo B9TL, Volvo B5LH
Gemini 2 (integral with VDL chassis modules)
- Gemini 2 DL
- Gemini 2 HEV
Pulsar Gemini (for DAF/VDL DB250)
Pulsar Gemini HEV (hybrid-powered double-decker bus based on VDL DB250)
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