STEPHEN MORRIS, Buses editor from 1980 to 1999, recalls how the chassis-making arm of today’s Alexander Dennis transformed itself in the 1980s into a volume manufacturer of innovative vehicles engineered for a fast-changing market
The announcement in August 2020 that Alexander Dennis was to close its Guildford chassis factory was not a huge surprise. Given all that was happening in the wider world, its Canadian parent company, NFI Group, was hardly likely to be swayed by the fact that for decades bus manufacture had been the mainstay of the largest town in Surrey, one of England’s richest counties.
To 21st century thinking, Surrey is not a place you would think ideal for bus manufacture. They are built in Sherburnin-Elmet, Falkirk, Scarborough and Ballymena, not Guildford. Yet the Home Counties once was home to a great deal of motor manufacture.
Not far from Guildford is Addlestone, home to Weymanns which built not only highly regarded bus and coach bodywork but until 1932 also made bodies for expensive cars. AEC and Park Royal were both across the River Thames in Middlesex, also home to car builder Lagonda, in Staines, while a myriad of specialist car manufacturers has been based in Surrey, includ…
