King Long
News
School
bus is new King
14
December 2007
Graham Smith
Aussie bus-body builders have a challenging competition with new
rival King Long China and its 6126 AU bus.
Australian
bus-body builders are on alert after the arrival of the first bus
with a body built in China by leading bus builder King Long China.
The bus, built
on an Iveco chassis, is the first of many expected to be imported
by King Long Australia, which has a deal with the Chinese company
to build its bodies.
The King Long
bus is designed to be used as a school or charter bus. In
its base form it can seat 57 passengers, but can be extended to
seat more, depending on customer needs.
The 6126 AU
complies with ADRs and has modern styling, a marine grade
stainless-steel body frame, aluminium side panels and a one piece
fibreglass roof.
It features
seats rimmed in cloth to the customer's requirements, luggage
racks with individual air conditioning outlets and reading lights.
The
ergonomically designed driver's cockpit has all controls within
easy reach. It also has an adjustable seat, power windows,
reversing sensors and a camera.
"Rather than
have a bus dedicated to school use, we chose a higher
specification that was priced at the school-bus level yet could
also be used for charter work," King Long Australia's Adrian
van Geelen says.
The first bus
to arrive in Australia was built on an Iveco chassis, but Long
also builds on MAN, Mercedes-Benz and Hino chassis. He says King
Long China can build and deliver buses at competitive prices, and
quickly. Local bus-body builders can take more than a year to
deliver a bus, but King Long can deliver a bus in as little as
three months.
"At the
moment you have to wait as long as 18 months to get a new bus,"
van Geelen says.
"King Long
builds more than 20,000 buses a year, that's one bus every 15
minutes, which means we can take an order for a bus and deliver it
in a month or two."
King Long
Australia has established a service and spare parts network to
support the buses it sells. A two-year warranty applies to the
body of the 6126 AU, with the chassis covered by its manufacturer.
According to
van Geelen, the market for school buses alone this year was 450,
which has put pressure on local body builders.
It also gives
King Long Australia an opportunity to establish a foothold for its
buses.
- Herald
Sun
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