THE NEW "Sprinter" FROM MERCEDES BENZ * Germany

* Baden-Württemberg - Mercedes-Benz launches new Sprinter 

(Picture: A Sprinter Minibus)
Stuttgart,Germany -Busworld (Belgium) -5 May 2013: -- Mercedes-Benz has launched the Euro 6 version of its Sprinter minibus, which will become available in September of this year, produced for the European market. In other emission versions it is available globally... The Sprinter’s character as an increasingly global vehicle is also reflected in its production locations. In addition to rolling off the line in Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde, Germany, the van is produced in Charleston, South Carolina, González Catan, Argentina, and Fuzhou, China. In order to penetrate Russia’s dynamic mass market, an additional production of the Sprinter Classic at a plant operated by the Russian manufacturer GAZ in Nizhny Novgorod is currently being prepared...


* China - Daimler Van joint venture Fujian Benz Automotive Corp, opens new product development center in 

(Picture: Fujian Benz currently produces the Mercedes W639 front)
Qingkou,Fúzhōu,China -Busworld (Belgium) -13 April 2013: -- After only two years of construction, Fujian Benz Automotive Corporation’s new product development center was officially opened in April 2013 in Fuzhou... The new product development center is the first such facility of Mercedes-Benz Vans outside Germany... The center focuses on Mercedes-Benz van models that are manufactured and sold in China: the Sprinter, the Vito, and the Viano. A total of RMB 500 million (approx. €60 million) was invested in the new center... One part of the new product development center is concentrated at the Fujian Benz production plant in Qinkou. The overall vehicle development department is located on approximately 11,000 square meters of built-up area. The department is responsible for product development and prototype construction as well as component and complete-vehicle testing... Fujian Benz Automotive Corporation was established in Fuzhou in October 2007. It is a joint venture between Daimler AG, Fujian Motor Industry Group Company (FJMG), and the Taiwan-based China Motors Corp (CMC). The Vito and Viano models are manufactured at the Fuzhou plant, where a bus version of the Sprinter also went into production in October 2011. In China, the vehicles from Mercedes-Benz Vans are currently serving the markets for high-end passenger transport operations and exclusive shuttle services...


* Brazil - Volvo buses sells 310 coaches to JCA Group

(Picture: Volvo bus B340R 4X2 Rodoviário) Curitiba,Parana,Brazil-Busworld (Belgium) -12 April 2013: -- Volvo Buses has sold 310 coach chassis to the JCA Group, one of Brazil's largest passenger transport companies. This is the biggest deal closed to date in Brazil by Volvo in the coach chassis segment... The buses, which will be delivered in May, are all the B340R model, version 4x2, with 340 hp.  The coach bodies will be built by Marcopolo... The B340R is factory equipped with the intelligent ABS/EBS brake system, which increases braking performance and prevents the vehicle from skidding, and with the Volvo 390 hp engine brake, which ensures increased safety on downhill stretches. Another differential of this vehicle is the renowned I-Shift gearbox, which reduces fuel consumption by up to 5 percent, as well as driving vehicle safety... The JCA Group’s vehicles are also equipped with ESP (Electronic Stability Program), a modern active safety system that contributes to preventing the risk of tipping over or skidding on curves...

 
* Canada - Nova Bus signs contract with Chicago 

Saint-Eustache,Quebec,CAN -Busworld (Belgium) -3 May 2013: -- Canadian bus manufacturer Nova Bus, part of Volvo Bus, has signed a major contract worth $148 million for 300 diesel buses with the Chicago Transit Authority... Final assembly of the buses will be done in Plattsburgh, USA, to satisfy buy-in-America clauses in procurement contracts from public U.S. agencies. Last October, Nova Bus signed a $143-million contract with Toronto for 153 articulated buses whose deliveries are starting this year... 



* Germany - Nine Citaro Euro VI buses delivered to BLT Baselland 

Stutgart,Germany -Busworld (Belgium) -16 April 2013: -- BLT Baselland Transport AG in Switzerland recently took delivery of nine Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses meeting the requirements of the future Euro VI emissions standard. These are the first standard-production regular-service solo buses featuring this clean technology to go into service with BLT in Switzerland... An optimised combustion process and a sophisticated emission control system reduce particulate emissions to just three percent of the level specified by Euro I twenty years ago, while nitrogen oxide emissions have been cut to five percent... In addition to new engines and an extensive emission control system, the Citaro also features a new outer shell... They even offer lower fuel consumption – and therefore lower CO2 emissions – than originally expected. Mercedes-Benz has implemented a number of measures to compensate for the additional weight of the Euro VI components, including a lightweight fibreglass-reinforced-plastic (FRP) roof and a weight-optimised rear axle...


* Germany - First Mercedes-Benz Citaros delivered in Budapest

(Picture: Mercedes-Benz Citaro buses on Budapest streets)
Stuttgart,Germany -Busworld (Belgium) -4 May 2013: -- These Citaros are the first vehicles to be delivered from the major contract signed with the Budapest City Authorities last November for the acquisition of a total of 159 Mercedes-Benz Citaros... The complete order consists of over 80 articulated units and 79 solo vehicles of the new Citaro generation... Thanks to Mercedes-Benz BlueTec diesel technology, both the articulated and the solo units comply with the environmentally-friendly EEV exhaust gas standard... The new Citaro was manufactured in both the Mannheim bus production facilities and the factory in Neu-Ulm...


* UK - Stagecoach launches Anglo-Scots sleeper coaches made by Van Hool

(Picture by Jamie Vendy:
Stagecoach "Megabus Gold" Van Hool Astromega 50301 SF13 FMC -front view)
Perth,Scotland,UK -Busworld (Belgium) -24 April 2013: -- Stagecoach has launched an extensive network of overnight sleeper coach routes between Scotland and London, using a fleet of ten specially-designed vehicles costing £500,000 each... The first of the new coaches, which were designed and made by Belgian company Van Hool, will replace vehicles on an overnight route Stagecoach runs between Glasgow and London...

The vehicles have 53 seats that convert into 42 beds, and customers will get free refreshments during their journey, a sleeper kit including an eye mask, a toothbrush and toothpaste. They offer the possibility to go to sleep in one city and wake up in another without having to pay extra for a hotel room...

* Belgium - Van Hool presents first “Exqui.City Design  Geneva” for TPG 

(Image) 
Koningshooikt, Belgium -Busworld -14 April 2013: -- Belgian bus and coach manufacturer Van Hool is preparing the first example of the new Exqui.City in the specific design for the Geneva haulier TPG. It is an 18-metre, articulated trolley version of the Exqui.City, of which the company responsible for public transport in the canton of Geneva, Transports Publics Genevois (TPG), has ordered 33... The Exqui.City design Geneva is the result of close collaboration between TPG and Van Hool... This new type of vehicle has a multi propulsion platform and this platform means that the Exqui.City, both the 18 m and the 24 m design, can be configured in various, environmentally-friendly versions such as a trolley, hybrid systems (diesel-electric and CNG-electric), fuel cell hybrid or full electric bus... A low floor and the four double doors guarantee optimal accessibility...



* UK - Plaxton launches new Panther variant

(Picture: A Plaxton 7 Elite bus)
Scarborough,EN,UK -Busworld (Belgium) -26 April 2013: -- The UK manufacturer Plaxton, part of the Alexander Dennis Group, unveiled a new Panther variant at the UK Coach Rally 2013... With just 10.8m in length, the vehicle can accomodate up to 45 passengers and can be featured with all of the options available from Panther. It will be based on the established Volvo B9R underframe with Volvo’s 380bhp 9-litre engine and I-Shift transmission...The new model is a development of the market-leading Panther range with the company’s proven and durable stainless-steel frame... Plaxton offers a comprehensive range of coaches from the 29-seat Cheetah through a choice of two- and three-axle, Panther and Elite models in lengths of up to 15m. The biggest coach is the recently-launched Elite i, a 15m interdeck coach with up to 75 seats, believed to be the largest coach ever built in the UK... 



* Turkey - 490 BredaMenarini CNG buses for Istanbul 

(Picture: A BredaMenarini's VivaCity bus) Akçalar,Nilüfer,Bursa,Turkey -Busworld (Belgium) -6 April 2013: -- The Turkish vehicle manufacturer Karsan, who produces among others the BredaMenarini buses under licence, last year received an order to deliver 490 buses to the Istanbul public transport operator IETT (Istanbul Electricity Tramway and Tunnel General Management), include the supply of spare parts and diagnostic kits, a five years full maintenance service and the construction of natural gas refuelling stations. According to these contracts, the 490 buses will be delivered in batches – a first batch of 140 vehicles were delivered between January and February of this year. The models ordered by IETT are the 12-metre Avancity+ L with CNG engine and the articulated 18-metre Avancity+ S... Both feature EEV engines, full length low floor, air conditioning system, wheelchair area and boarding ramp... The 12-metre vehicle has a capacity of 88 passengers whilst the articulated model transports up to 156 travellers. The buses are entirely manufactured in the Karsan plant in Bursa. The engines were sypplied by Mercedes-Benz and MAN...

       
* Slovenia - Production relaunched at TAM Maribor

(Picture from STA:  A TAM Durabus model) 
Maribor,Slovenia -Busworld (Belgium) -30 April 2013: -- TAM, the once-famed Maribor producer of buses and lorries, rose from the ashes on the 27th of April 2013 as production was officially relaunched at the company with the help of Chinese investor CHTC and Dutch company DuraBus... The former giant, which shared the fate of the majority of the industry in Maribor following the loss of Yugoslav markets, went into receivership as TVM in 2011, but is now being revived as TAM DuraBus, 51% Chinese-owned and 49% Dutch-Austrian... TAM DuraBus expects to have around 200 workers once production reaches full steam, with the eventual yearly output set at 300 buses and 100 lorries. The plan for this year - 65 workers have been employed so far - is the production of 50 to 60 buses...