Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Transport |
Founded | 1946 |
Founder | Robert Wright |
Headquarters | Ballymena, Northern Ireland |
Key people | Jean-Marc Gales (CEO) [1] |
Products | Bus and coachwork |
Revenue | £181 million (2017) |
Owner | Jo Bamford [2] |
Number of employees | 860 (2022) [3] |
Parent | Bamford Bus Company |
Website | wrightbus |
Wrightbus [4] is a Northern Irish bus manufacturer and a pioneer of the low-floor bus. The company was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and was later run by his son William Wright, until it was acquired in 2019 by British businessman Jo Bamford.
Wrightbus was founded in 1946 as Robert Wright & Son Coachbuilders. [5] In its early years it rebodied lorries. In 1978, the company released its first aluminium-structured bus bodywork.
Wright's breakthrough into the mainstream bus bodybuilding sector came in the early 1990s. [6] The Handybus was a midibus body offered on a variety of chassis but was more successful than the emerging Dennis Dart in attracting reasonably-sized orders from a variety of operators including London Buses, Go Ahead Northern, Ulsterbus and Citybus (Belfast). [7] This was followed by a move into the full-size single deck market with the Endeavour which was fitted to Dennis Javelin, Leyland Tiger and Scania K93 chassis, and enabled Wright to develop its highly successful Endurance body which competed with the Alexander Strider and Northern Counties Paladin for orders on Volvo B10B and Scania N113CRB chassis. [8] [9]
Other Wright products introduced in this period included two Mercedes-Benz-based products, the O405 based Cityranger and the OH1416 based Urbanranger. The latter was launched around the time bus operators in the UK began switching to low floor chassis and consequently only attracted a handful of orders. However, Wright had become well established in the bus bodybuilding sector by then, and was able to exploit the opportunities the low-floor revolution would offer it from the mid-1990s onwards.
In 1993, the Pathfinder on low floor Dennis Lance SLF and Scania N113CRL chassis was unveiled.
The Axcess-Ultralow was introduced in 1995 and offered on the Scania L113 chassis. At this time it was selling in reasonable numbers to UK bus operators, but unlike other bodybuilders who could only offer the L113 with step-entrance bodies, Wright modified it by removing the middle section of the chassis and thus offered UK bus operators one of the first mainstream low-floor body/chassis combinations. A major customer for the Axcess-Ultralow was FirstGroup, taking approximately 240.
Next up was the Volvo B10L based Liberator introduced at the end of 1995: National Express ordered 120 in 1997.
Next came the Renown body built on the Volvo B10BLE which went on to become the standard bus of the Blazefield Group. Production was stopped when the B10BLE was replaced by the Volvo B7L on the new Wright Eclipse (now Wright Eclipse Metro), which due to its vertical rear engine wasn't popular with many operators. Nevertheless, Wright did not lose custom and many operators such as Ulsterbus switched to the incline-engined Scania L94UB, on a similar Wright Solar body. Another bodywork which resembles the current Solar/Eclipse range is the Meridian, which was bodied on the MAN A22 full low-floor single-deck chassis.
Robert Wright & Son was restructured in 2000, with the bus building operation rebranded to Wrightbus as a part of the Wright Group. Companies formed alongside Wrightbus in the Wright Group were Expotech, handling the export of the group's technologies and international joint ventures such as Chance Coaches, and CustomCare, an aftermarket support operation servicing buses delivered by both Wrightbus and other bus manufacturers. [10]
The first Wright Eclipse Gemini double-decker was built on the Volvo B7TL chassis in 2001. A similarly styled bus entered service with Arriva London in August 2003 as the Wright Pulsar Gemini on the VDL DB250 chassis. Large operators of Gemini-bodied buses include Arriva, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group, Lothian Buses and National Express.
One of the company's most notable products is the New Routemaster London bus, introduced in February 2012 as an update of the AEC Routemaster. [11] Production ended in 2017 when the 1,000th left the production line. [12]
Since May 2013, Wrightbus began building its own chassis, the StreetLite single-decker and StreetDeck double decker. However, they still continue to produce bodywork for the Volvo B5TL, Volvo B5LH and Volvo B8RLE. [13] [14] [15]
In 2016, the Wright SRM was introduced on the Volvo B5LH. [16]
Between September and October 2019, Wrightbus entered administration with the suspension of 1,300 jobs at its factory. [17] At the time Deloitte was appointed as the company's administrators, Wrightbus was £60m in debt, [18] with £38.1 million owed to the Bank of Ireland.
During the six years prior to Wrightbus going into administration, it was reported that Jeff Wright, the owner of the company, had donated £15m to a church he had founded in 2007, Green Pastures Church. [19] This led to protests on 29 September 2019 which were joined by many of the company's former workers, including members of the Wright family. [20]
On 11 October 2019, a deal was reached in principle between Jo Bamford (son of Anthony Bamford, chairman of the construction equipment manufacturer JCB) and the Wright family for the land used by the factory, a sticking point in negotiations to sell the firm. [21] [22] A deal was made with the administrators eleven days later, with Jo Bamford's Bamford Bus Company concluding a takeover of the company. [23]
Since the takeover of Wrightbus, Bamford has been committed to creating a market for hydrogen buses with a reconfigured StreetDeck that is powered by hydrogen. In 2020, Bamford said he planned to build 3,000 buses of this type by 2024. [24]
Wrightbus has followed two strategies towards achieving zero emission: creating battery-powered and fuel-cell (powered by hydrogen) vehicles. The operator Go Ahead has placed orders for fuel-cell buses for its Metrobus and Brighton & Hove fleets, and Translink in Northern Ireland made an initial order for 38 battery vehicles. [25]
Wrightbus announced in February 2023 that it was planning to build a green hydrogen production facility on its Ballymena site in partnership with Hygen Energy, capable of producing enough hydrogen to fuel up to 300 buses per day with the option to triple its production in line with future demand for the fuel. [26] [27] Funding for the construction of electrolysers at the facility was secured from the first round of the UK government's £37.9 million UK Net Zero Hydrogen Fund in March 2023. [28] [29] Wrightbus was later granted up to £534,000 million in funding from the UK government-sponsored Advanced Propulsion Centre fund in September 2023 to develop a driveline for a hydrogen fuel cell-powered coach, which will be intended as a functional "technology demonstrator". [30]
In 1997, an order for 25 Wright Crusader-bodied Dennis Darts was delivered to Australian operator ACTION. Between 2003 and 2006, Hong Kong operator Kowloon Motor Bus received a total of 164 Wrightbus three-axle double-deckers; 100 of them were on Volvo Super Olympian and 64 of them were on Volvo B9TL chassis. In 2009, Kowloon Motor Bus had ordered a total of 291 buses, including one demonstrator with two-axle, and all buses were in service in 2012. In 2010, the first of 450 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2-bodied Volvo B9TLs was delivered to SBS Transit, Singapore till end 2012. [31]
In 2011, Wrightbus International was established. A contract was awarded by SBS Transit for 565 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvo B9TLs and delivered since January 2013 till June 2015. [32] [33] In November 2012, a contract for 50 Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodied Volvos was awarded by Kowloon Motor Bus. These were sent in knock-down kit (ckd) form from Northern Ireland and assembled in China and followed by another 85, including two 12.8-metre-long demonstrators. [34] [35] In September 2013, Wrightbus entered into a partnership with Daimler Buses to manufacture buses in Chennai, India. [36] [37]
In March 2014, orders were secured from Hong Kong operators Citybus and New World First Bus for 51 Volvo B9TLs. These are being sent in CKD form from Northern Ireland and assembled in Malaysia. [38] [39] [40] In July 2014, SBS Transit ordered a further 415 Eclipse Gemini 2-bodied Volvo B9TLs which will be delivered from August 2015 till 2017,[ needs update ] increasing the total to 1,430 by 2017. [31] [41] A single Eclipse Gemini 3-bodied Volvo B8L prototype was exported to Singapore for trial with SBS Transit but was subsequently sold to A&S Transit, a private bus operator in Singapore. [42] <ref>
Name | Chassis | Decks | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
GB Hawk | Integral | 1 | Diesel propulsion only |
GB Kite | Integral | 1 | Electric or hydrogen propulsion only. |
Gemini 3 | Volvo B5TL, B5LH, B8L | 2 | Bodywork on Volvo chassis; Volvo B5LH is a hybrid propulsion chassis |
StreetDeck | Integral | 2 | |
StreetLite | Integral | 1 | Available in DF (door-forward, door is in part of the bus extending in front of front wheels) or WF (wheel-forward, wheels are right at the front and door is behind them). |
Name | Chassis | Notes |
---|---|---|
Axcess-Floline | Scania L94UB | |
Axcess-Ultralow | Scania L113CRL | |
Cadet | DAF/VDL SB120 | Also sold as the Volvo Merit |
Cityranger | Mercedes-Benz O405 | |
Commander | DAF/VDL SB200 | |
Consort | Leyland 9-13R Roadrunner | Possibly bodied other chassis |
Contour | Bedford Y-Series | Possibly bodied other chassis. Coach Body |
Crusader | Dennis Dart SLF, Volvo B6LE | Crusader 2 was only available on Volvo B6LE |
Eclipse Metro | Volvo B7L | |
Eclipse Urban, 2 and 3 | Volvo B8RLE | Replaced by the Wright GB Hawk and Wright GB Kite. |
Eclipse Fusion | Volvo B7LA | Articulated bus |
Eclipse Commuter | Volvo B7RLE | |
Eclipse SchoolRun | Volvo B7R | |
Endeavour | Leyland Tiger, Scania K93 | |
Electrocity | DAF/VDL SB120 | Hybrid bus |
Endurance | Volvo B10B, Scania N113CRB | |
Fusion | Volvo B10LA | |
Handybus | Dennis Dart, Leyland Swift | |
Liberator | Volvo B10L | |
Meridian | MAN A22 | |
Nimbus | Mercedes-Benz T2, Renault S75 | Minibus |
Pathfinder | Dennis Lance SLF, Scania N113CRL | |
Pulsar | VDL SB200 | Was available in HEV form. |
Renown | Volvo B10BLE | |
Royale | Leyland Leopard | |
Solar | Scania L94UB | |
Solar Fusion | Scania L94UA | Articulated bus |
TT | Bedford chassis | |
StreetAir | Integral | Fully electric-powered midibus, can be DF (door-forward, chassis based on StreetDeck) or WF (wheel-forward, based on StreetLite) |
StreetCar | Volvo B7LA, Hess | Articulated bus |
StreetVibe | Integral | A shorter and narrower version of the StreetLite launched in 2014 to compete with the Optare Solo SR Slimline (wheel-forward) |
Urbanranger | Mercedes-Benz OH141 |
Name | Chassis | Notes |
---|---|---|
Eclipse Gemini | Volvo B7TL, two-axle B9TL & B5LH | |
Eclipse Gemini 2 | Volvo B9TL, B8L, B5LH | Production for two-axle version ceased in 2013/2014. |
Explorer | Volvo Super Olympian | |
Gemini 2 | Integral with VDL modules | Comes in the DL & HEV variants |
Pulsar Gemini | DAF/VDL DB250 | |
Pulsar Gemini HEV | VDL DB250 | Hybrid |
New Routemaster | Integral | Produced exclusively for TfL between 2012 and 2017. Hybrid bus. |
SRM | Volvo B5LH | A more basic spin-off of the New Routemaster, with fewer distinctive features |
SBS Transit Ltd is a multi-modal public transport operator in Singapore operating bus and rail services. With a majority of its shares owned by Singaporean multinational transport conglomerate ComfortDelGro Corporation at 75%, it was formerly known as Singapore Bus Services before rebranding to SBS Transit on 1 November 2001.
The Volvo B9TL is a low-floor double-decker bus built by Volvo from 2002 until 2018. It superseded the Volvo Super Olympian and the Volvo B7TL. The 2-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B5TL in 2014 and the 3-axle version has been superseded by the Volvo B8L in 2018.
The Volvo B7TL is a low-floor double-decker bus chassis which was launched in 1999 and replaced the 2-axle version of the Volvo Olympian. It was built as the British bus operators seemed hesitant to purchase the B7L double decker with a long rear overhang.
The VDL DB250 was a twin-axle double-decker bus chassis manufactured by VDL Bus & Coach.
The Wright Eclipse Gemini is a low-floor double-decker bus body that was built by Wrightbus since 2001, based on the single-decker Wright Eclipse design. The second-generation Eclipse Gemini 2 was launched in 2009, followed by the third-generation Gemini 3 in 2013. Additionally, the body was available on Volvo Super Olympian chassis in Hong Kong between 2003 and 2005, marketed as the Wright Explorer.
The Wright Pulsar Gemini was a design of double-decker bus bodywork built onto VDL DB250LF chassis by Wrightbus between 2003 and 2006. It was visually almost identical to the Wright Eclipse Gemini that was mounted on the Volvo B7TL and later Volvo B9TL chassis.
The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister design the Solar, were named for a solar eclipse which was visible in the UK in 1999, the year of its introduction.
The Wright Endurance was a step-entrance single-decker bus body on Scania N113 and on Volvo B10B chassis by Wrightbus between 1992 and 1997.
The Wright Gemini 2 is a double-decker bus built by Wrightbus between 2009 and 2013. It was announced in December 2007 but was not named until 2008. It was constructed as a semi-integral vehicle, with chassis modules provided by VDL. The bodywork utilised some lighter materials so that the vehicle was lighter than the Eclipse Gemini and Pulsar Gemini bodied buses. It was available in two versions; the Gemini 2 DL diesel-powered version, and the Gemini 2 HEV diesel-electric hybrid version.
The Volvo B5LH is a low-floor hybrid electric bus chassis for both single-decker buses and double-decker buses manufactured by Volvo between 2008 and 2023. It is the basis for Volvo's integral 7700 Hybrid full low floor city bus and its successor, the 7900 Hybrid from 2011. In 2008, pre-production batches of both types of chassis were manufactured. Serial production started in June 2010. From 2013 it is also available as an articulated bus chassis. First entering service in London, the B5LH is the only current double decker type in service in the United Kingdom that uses a parallel hybrid drive system.
There are 3,835 hybrid buses, 950 battery electric buses, and 20 hydrogen fuel cell buses operating in London, as of March 2023, out of a total bus fleet of 8,643 – this is around 56% of the bus fleet.
The East Lancs OmniDekka is a double-decker bus built for sale in the UK market, introduced by East Lancashire Coachbuilders in 2003. Originally built on Scania N94UD chassis at Euro 3, and later Scania N230UD and N270UD at Euro 4 and Euro 5, the bodywork consists of a modified East Lancs Myllennium double decker, but with the standard front end cowl and windscreen replaced with that of Scania's own integral OmniCity. Through takeovers of East Lancs, production of the OmniDekka was latterly carried out by the Darwen Group and finally Optare before ceasing in 2011.
The Volvo B5TL is a 2-axle low-floor double decker built by Volvo. It replaced the B9TL as Volvo's Euro 6 2-axle double decker product for the UK and Irish markets.
The Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-decker bus manufactured by Wrightbus since 2014, originally delivered as standard with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine. Hybrid-electric, full-electric and hydrogen-powered variants have subsequently been produced. Production of the StreetDeck range was briefly suspended when Wrightbus entered administration in September 2019.
The Wright SRM is a twin-axle double-decker bus body manufactured by Wrightbus in 2016, designed for the Volvo B5LH and Volvo B5LHC hybrid chassis.
The Wright StreetAir is a low-floor single-decker electric bus design built by Wrightbus in Ballymena, Northern Ireland in 2016 and 17. An integral product based on a single-deck variant of the Wright StreetDeck chassis, the StreetAir replaces the Wright Electrocity in Wrightbus' product range.
The Volvo B8L is a 3-axle bus chassis, for double-decker buses, manufactured by Volvo Buses since 2016, with pre-production batches being produced as early as in 2016. It is powered by a 6-cylinder, 350hp 7.7 litre Volvo engine.
The Wright GB Hawk is a full-size single-deck bus produced by Wrightbus in Ballymena, Northern Ireland since 2021. The first all-new model to be launched by Wrightbus following their takeover by JCB, the GB Hawk is an integral design consisting of the same chassis and body design as the existing double-deck Wright StreetDeck; it is also powered by the same Daimler OM934 engine found in the StreetDeck.
The Wright GB Kite is a range of full-size zero-emission single-deck buses manufactured by Wrightbus since 2022. Similar in body style to the diesel powered Wright GB Hawk, the GB Kite is an integral design that can be built as a battery electric vehicle, the Electroliner BEV, and as a fuel cell electric vehicle, the Hydroliner FCEV.