Wrightbus enter administration

[Jordan Adam]

Going beyond Wrights is this likely to impact Nu Track? Whilst they are not part of the Wrights group I am sure I have seen pictures of Nu Track vehicles being assembled in the Wright factory, does anyone know if they outsourced either part or all of their production?

Yes it will. Nu Track are owned by Wright.

 

[awsnews]

Yes it will. Nu Track are owned by Wright.

They are not, hence the question. Nu Track is owned by a member of the Wright family in a personal capacity, not by a company in the wider Wrights group.

 

[Andyh82]

The minute all the big groups switched to ADL i knew Wrights where up the creek. Arriva bought the Eclipse, Solar and Pulsar single deckers for their fleets. ADL singles you could count the places where they were found. Wrights should have made the Volvo B8 body lighter

FirstBus used to buy Wright’s in big numbers, but have bought fewer buses if any description recently

Arriva were also a big Wright’s customer, but have bought much fewer buses recently

Also the ending of the new routemaster production (which if you read press reports is apparently the only bus they ever built) won’t have helped either.

I’m guessing it’ll be one of those jobs where another company is formed out of some sort of remains, like what happened with TransBus.

 

[Goldfish62]

Also the ending of the new routemaster production (which if you read press reports is apparently the only bus they ever built) won’t have helped either.

.

Wrightbus only had the rights to build the first 1000 NRMs and even that quantity, which in the end was built, was not guaranteed.

If they were basing their business model on further orders of the NRM then it was fundamental flawed, especially with the political risk of the London mayoral election.

 

[37114]

Did Rotala get all the Streetdecks they ordered?

're Go North East, the obvious answer is to ask ADL to fill the gap as they are supplying 3 lowheight E400s already.

 

[Gingerbus1991]

So this means the end of Gemini and Eclipses buses then?

 

[LOL The Irony]

So this means the end of Gemini and Eclipses buses then?

Depends on the outcome of the administration.

 

[Jordan Adam]

So this means the end of Gemini and Eclipses buses then?

I think the "Eclipse" (Single deck product) was pretty much past it anyway. Wright have been reluctant to build them in recent years often trying to get the operator to go for the Streetlite again, then if the operator persists in asking for the Eclipse 3 Wright bump up the price. As such they've only actually been able to sell 1 "stealth" example outside of Lothian.

They are not, hence the question. Nu Track is owned by a member of the Wright family in a personal capacity, not by a company in the wider Wrights group.

Yes that's right, my mistake! However some of their products do rely heavily on Wright for parts.

 

[class387]

I think the "Eclipse" (Single deck product) was pretty much past it anyway. Wright have been reluctant to build them in recent years often trying to get the operator to go for the Streetlite again, then if the operator persists in asking for the Eclipse 3 Wright bump up the price. As such they've only actually been able to sell 1 "stealth" example outside of Lothian.



Yes that's right, my mistake! However some of their products do rely heavily on Wright for parts.

Has anyone here been on an Eclipse 3 - is it a good bus? The later Eclipse 2s suffered from some awful rattles - very similar and almost as bad as a Streetlite.

Arriva Stevenage were apparently meant to get quite a few Eclipse 3s next month. Seems that this won't happen now.

 

[F Great Eastern]

f they don't I'm sure the new company will sell parts. What happens to build-and-maintain deals will be interesting, though.

Full service contracts that includes the build, maintenance and spares are normally with the chassis provider who subcontract the body side of things, so ultimately for Volvo based Wright vehicles which were procured through Volvo, then that will be a problem for Volvo to sort, not the operator.

However for those vehicles which were purchased through Wright directly, which would be the likes of the StreetDeck and the Streetlite, it is less certain what will happen.

 

[njlawley]

I think the "Eclipse" (Single deck product) was pretty much past it anyway. Wright have been reluctant to build them in recent years often trying to get the operator to go for the Streetlite again, then if the operator persists in asking for the Eclipse 3 Wright bump up the price. As such they've only actually been able to sell 1 "stealth" example outside of Lothian.

They would risk shooting themselves in the foot, as operators could just find another body supplier - in the case of Volvo, there's MCV, with ADL coming on board soon.

 

[scosutsut]

Has anyone here been on an Eclipse 3 - is it a good bus? The later Eclipse 2s suffered from some awful rattles - very similar and almost as bad as a Streetlite.

Lothian subsidiary East Coast Buses has dual purpose seated ones, on face value they look very nice and it's a high internal spec they've been built to but they are very rattly even on the A1 which is in fairly good nick.

Just realise the dual purpose probably isn't a phrase that's used anymore #showingmyage

 

[Jordan Adam]

They would risk shooting themselves in the foot, as operators could just find another body supplier - in the case of Volvo, there's MCV, with ADL coming on board soon.

Wright would probably get more money making a Streetlite than they would an Eclipse 3. But it is a bit of a 'flawed idea', ADLs logic is that 'half an order is better than no order'.

 

[class387]

Lothian subsidiary East Coast Buses has dual purpose seated ones, on face value they look very nice and it's a high internal spec they've been built to but they are very rattly even on the A1 which is in fairly good nick.

Just realise the dual purpose probably isn't a phrase that's used anymore #showingmyage

Disappointing. Can see why it hasn't sold well, especially with Wright pushing the Streetlite and a competitive alternative in the MCV Evora or MMCs.

 

[Mwanesh]

The Eclipse body just needed weight reduction only. When i look at the Arriva Stevenage VDL Pulsars they still look in good nick even after 7 years. Better than Streetlites.

 

[class387]

The Eclipse body just needed weight reduction only. When i look at the Arriva Stevenage VDL Pulsars they still look in good nick even after 7 years. Better than Streetlites.

Agreed. Some vibrations but generally smart and comfortable.

The 63 plate Eclipses at Hemel however are terrible for rattles and ride very harshly, which is strange considering that they are basically the same body built two years apart.

 

[507021]

Another problem is prospective buyers see an outdated product page, still advertising the New Routemaster!

I don't think prospective buyers would be put off by that.

 

[507021]

Did Rotala get all the Streetdecks they ordered?

No, Diamond North West only received fourteen StreetDecks out of what I think was an order for around 90 vehicles. I understand the order also included the ex demonstrator and cancelled First examples.

 

[MotCO]

Typically businesses pay for such things in arrears, so it won't be a financial issue, just one of inconvenience in having to find and await a new supplier.

If it is a large order, won't some already have been built and ready for delivery?

 

[randyrippley]

The last Kowloon bus I saw on the M6 was a singleton around ten weeks ago.......did that contract get cancelled? Seems unlikely they all got delivered

 

[deanmachine]

If it is a large order, won't some already have been built and ready for delivery?

Judging by the drone shot on the BBC News report there were 2 seemingly complete GNE Streetdecks sitting outside the Factory.

 

[christopher]

It's already a struggle to get parts for anything Wrightbus as it is now.

 

[randyrippley]

Whilst mechanical items from third parties should be relatively easy to source those items where the intellectual property rights belong to Wrights, even if manufactured by another company, will inevitably become harder to obtain. Without an understanding of Wrights manufacturing philosophy it is difficult to judge.
Given the immediate reduction in the workforce it would appear that any outstanding orders won't be fulfilled. Is it known which operators were still expecting deliveries?

Some of the rights may not belong to Wrights...........around 25 years ago they took out a unique licence to use aluminium extrusion technology developed by Alusuisse (aka Swiss Aluminium aka Lonza). Thats what they were using for a long time to build the bodies - dunno what the current licencing regime is. Could be that a new owner suddenly finds he doesn't have the rights to construct the buses, even if he owns the design rights

 

[randyrippley]

Is it worth running a sweepstake on when the last Borisbus gets withdrawn? Any advance on 8 years?

 

[Andyh82]

Is it worth running a sweepstake on when the last Borisbus gets withdrawn? Any advance on 8 years?

What’s that got to do with today’s news?

 

[DunsBus]

If I'm correct, when MCW went under back in 1989, it had a knock-on effect on two Metrobus orders that were going through at the time for Strathclyde and West Midlands Travel as both operators sought assurances over warranties and future availability of spare parts. Strathclyde actually reduced its order from 50 Metrobuses to 25 (the balance being changed to Volvo Citybuses) in light of MCW's problems. I seem to recall that it was warranty issues relating to the MCW Metrorider which contributed to the company's demise.

 

[randyrippley]

What’s that got to do with today’s news?

Lack of spares
You may be able to get drivetrain parts, but bodyparts are going to be a problem. Difficult to see how an intensively worked fleet can survive for long, even with a lot of parts robbing

 

[richw]

Lack of spares
You may be able to get drivetrain parts, but bodyparts are going to be a problem. Difficult to see how an intensively worked fleet can survive for long, even with a lot of parts robbing

Body parts are potentially easier as they can be fabricated by any metalworks with the right materials. A template could be made from an existing good body panel. Just depends on licencing rights to do that.

 

[Andyh82]

Considering the vast number of Wrightbus vehicles in service across the country, I imagine some sort of spares business will come out from the ashes.

I doubt TfL could afford to start having to scrap such new vehicles, and I doubt anyone could with their Gemini’s and streetdecks either.

 

[Andyh82]

Judging by the drone shot on the BBC News report there were 2 seemingly complete GNE Streetdecks sitting outside the Factory.

You could see dozens of lime green deckers as well, presumably First Leeds streetdecks.