COACH & BUS UK

ALAN MILLAR reports on the highlights of this year’s two-day NEC show, which may have been missing some of the biggest players but still had several innovations and new launches on display for visitors making the journey to Birmingham in search of the latest trends and technology

Coach & Bus UK was always going to be a modest event. It is the smaller of the two-yearly shows at the National Exhibition Centre, held over two days just a fortnight before Busworld Europe draws most of the major manufacturers — and a goodly number of smaller ones as well — to Belgium where they will invariably make their major announcements and reveal their latest products.

With the domestic bus market facing a lot of uncertainty — 10 months into the year, we still await a new vehicle order confirmation from FirstGroup for 2017/18 — there were bound to be some notable absentees from the list of exhibitors.

No stands from Wrightbus, Optare, Scania, MAN, Van Hool or BYD, and earlier in the year it looked as though Alexander Dennis and Volvo might also stay away. However, both came in the end, Volvo with a stand showing one Plaxton-bodied coach (a symbol of a partnership that dates back 45 years to 1972 although signage on…

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