So is that the livery? Teal/Charcoal/White (Looks slightly resemblant to BR of sorts!) I sort of like it!
Yes, the new Avanti West Coast livery was unveiled last Wednesday.
So do we reckon the entire Liverpool service might go over to Hitachi including the existing one? So that'd be 14 (longer) coaches per hour - which would seem about right? The present service is about 2h10, which if you put layovers in would probably give you about a 5 hour round trip - so 10 units for a half hourly service, which coincidentally is precisely how many there are.
You can't diagram ten units out of ten in daily service: There's always going to be at least one on maintenance. I'd assume the ten units would cover the new hourly Liverpool - Euston service (c.5 trains) and one Birmingham - Euston service per hour (c.4 trains with turnaround time).
The livery looks quite good on them - I assume there's an operational reason for the electric versions being 7-car, but that's not likely to be popular. Will they really be able to get as much capacity as a 9-car pendolino in one? The vehicle length isn't that much different, they'll still be a full 36m shorter than a 9-car Pendolino set.
As for class numbers, I'd assume 802/4 and 803/1, but then TOPS and logic
A Pendolino vehicle seats a maximum of 76, an 80x vehicle seats a maximum of 88. Dead easy to fit 453 seats into a 7-car class 80x unit. To take the layout of a 9-car LNER Azuma set as a template:
Driving Trailer Pantograph Kitchen First: 15 First
Motor First: 58 First
Motor Standard: 88 Standard
Motor Standard: 88 Standard
Motor Standard (Shop): 72 Standard
Motor Standard: 88 Standard
Driving Trailer Pantograph Standard: 48 Standard
Which would give 73 First, 384 Standard, or a total of 457 seats. Put a couple of extra luggage racks in somewhere in standard and you end up with a total of 453. There're other configurations that would achieve a similar total.
By comparison a 9-car Pendolino has 99 First, 370 Standard giving a total of 469 seats.