Welcome to the Bus Industry News

FIRSTGROUP CELEBRATES 20 YEARS ANNIVERSARY

On 20 January 2009, FirstGroup celebrated its 20th anniversary with a gathering of past and present directors, along with First staff at the company's headquarters in Aberdeen. In 1989, then MD of Grampian Regional Transport, Moir Lockhead, along with his team of Directors, completed an employee and management buy out of the company from the Grampian Regional Council. The deal gave them control of 600 staff and 225 buses.

2,000TH AMBASSADOR IS THE 1,000TH FOR CONNEXXION

VDL Bus & Coach delivered the 1,000th Ambassador to the Connexxion public transport company at the end of 2008. VDL Bus & Coach also reached a second milestone last year when the 2,000th Ambassador rolled off the factory line.

AGCL OF GOA TO BUILD 10,000 BUSES PER YEAR

Automobile Corporation of Goa Ltd. (ACGL), has started building the Tata - Hispano luxury bus at its facility in Goa. The new bus is based on the global design models of Spanish bus body builder Hispano acquired by Tata Motors a couple of years back. The Goa plant has at this moment a capacity to manufacture 25 buses a month, but investment plans to increase the production to 10,000 buses per year are carried out at this moment.

MAN ACQUIRES VW TRUCK & BUS DO BRASIL

MAN AG is to acquire VW Truck & Bus, which is based in Resende (Brazil), from Volkswagen AG. The company with an enterprise value of €1,175 million is set to be transferred on January 1, 2009. The executive bodies of MAN and VW have already granted their approval.

DAIMLER BUYS A 10 PERCENT STAKE IN KAMAZ

Daimler bought a far smaller stake than planned in Kamaz, Russia's largest manufacturer of heavy trucks and also the builder of Nefaz buses, as it became wary of spending too much cash in the middle of a severe downturn in the auto industry.