fgwrich
Established Member
I would think that even if that had not occurred, any MD/CEO in the position at this time would find the fact that:
1 - These vehicles were ordered over 2 years ago, and even allowing for a COVID shutdown at Optare, there was no sign of them being placed into a build queue
2 - Spare fleet being available that is of reasonable age and to a fairly standard spec for Reading makes much more sense in the current circumstances.
3 - Financially speaking, if you can get out of the order and maintain the cash in your business, that makes much more sense at this time as well.
They also allude to "mixed reviews" with regards the demonstrator, which they've had for long enough to be able to be certain about them. Optare build quality can be mixed at best.
It makes sense from Reading's view to get out of a financial commitment for a brand new, untested product at the moment.
You're right - it doesn't say much for Optare that they couldn't get their act together to get these built. I appreciate they've just started to deliver the York fleet, but even then, those are untested until they've done a few months of "real" service.
It does make you wonder for UK manufacturing at the moment - ADL probably best placed to survive (even with large job cuts), but Optare & Wrights didn't/don't have the same order volume - and it's not like anyone is going to be placing orders in the near and probably distant future.
I can see follow up order with ADL for a few more E400s after all of this - Although I'm surprised they didn't chose them from the start. As for Wrightbus, they will have a fair bit of catching up to do for any orders / refurbishments / parts supplying before all of the chaos, although they too will need to start convincing the Operators to go with them before they continue to suffer too.
That said, I've just come back from a few interesting days north of the Border and several days of experiencing Lothian again. The older Wrightbuses unsurprisingly holding up better than the newer ones, though a lot of rattles coming through on some of those new Alexander Dennis's supposedly rattle proof E400 MMCs too.