History
Calabro family ownership
Bustech was founded by the proprietors of Surfside Buslines, Joe and Tony Calabro, on the Gold Coast in 1995. [10] Buses were initially produced on Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Hino chassis with the first such vehicle completed in 1998 from their original Ernest, Queensland factory. In late 2003, Bustech began production of the VST model. [11] In October 2004 Bustech moved to a new factory in Calabro Way, West Burleigh.
Bustech became part of the Transit Australia Group in 2008 as part of a restructuring of the Calabro operations. In the same year, the company launched its first integral bus the 10.5 metre MDi. This was followed by the 12.5 metre XDi, SDi school bus and in July 2011 by the 12.5 metre CDi double decker, the first double deck citybus built for Australian operation since 1973. In November 2009, Bustech completed its 1000th bus. [12]
In July 2015, in collaboration with Swinburne University of Technology, the Automotive Cooperative Research Centre (AutoCRC) and the Malaysian Automotive Institute, Bustech unveiled its first electric bus to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia, known as the ZDi. Bustech has already signed a AUD$170 million contract to manufacture electric buses for the Malaysian government in late 2014. [13] [14] [15] with the first electric prototype bus delivered to Malaysia in 2015 branded as the XDi-E. In 2016, through the Transit Australia Group, Bustech signed a deal with Dubai South to provide electric buses. [16] One ZDi bus was exported to Dubai for evaluation in 2017.
Fusion Capital Holdings ownership
Bustech was not included in the April 2019 purchase of the Transit Australia Group by the AATS Group (now Kinetic Group). [17] In September 2019, it was announced that Bustech will be merging with its joint venture partner Precision Buses, which is owned by Fusion Capital Holdings. [18] Both organisations will have a combined strategic management and direction under a new holding company called Australian Bus Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fusion. However, each of them will retain their own brand identities and continue to operate in their own capacity at their respective facilities. On 14 December 2020 it was announced that the group including Precision Buses and Elphinstone, had been rebranded as the Bustech Group. [19]
In June 2020, BusTech Group formed a partnership with Ebusco to produce the zero emission Ebusco 2.2 model and the next generation, carbon based Ebusco 3.0 model in Australia in a purpose built high tech facility. [20]
In August 2020, BusTech Group and Proterra announced a new collaboration to manufacture the all-electric ZDi 12.5m city bus utilizing Proterra’s battery technology platform. [21]
