The school bus is the new king
Chinese made buses are now available in Australia.
Australian bus coachbuilders are on high alert with the arrival of the first coach built in China by leading bus manufacturer 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 contract with a Chinese bodybuilder.
The King Long bus, named Australis, is designed for use as a school or charter bus. In its basic version, it can accommodate 57 passengers, but can be scaled up to accommodate more, depending on the client's needs.
The Australis is ADR compliant and features a modern design with a marine grade stainless steel hull frame, aluminum side panels and a one-piece fiberglass roof.
It has seats with custom fabric upholstery, luggage racks with individual air conditioning outlets and reading lights.
The ergonomic driver's cab has easy access to all controls. It also has an adjustable seat, power windows, reversing sensors and a camera.
“Instead of using a bus designed for use in schools, we opted for a higher specification that would be rated at the level of a school bus, but could also be used for charter flights,” says King Long Australia's Adrian van Gielen.
The first bus to arrive in Australia was built on an Iveco chassis, but Long also uses MAN, Mercedes-Benz and Hino chassis.
He says that King Long China can build and supply buses at competitive prices and quickly.
It can take over a year for local bus manufacturers to deliver a bus, but King Long can deliver a bus in as little as three months.
“Currently, you have to wait as long as 18 months to get a new bus,” says van Gelen.
“King Long builds over 20,000 buses a year, that’s one bus every 15 minutes, which means we can take a bus order and have it delivered in a month or two.”
King Long Australia has set up a service and spare parts network to support the buses it sells.
The Australis body is covered by a two-year warranty, while the chassis is covered by its manufacturer.
The market for school buses alone this year was 450 units, van Gelen said, putting pressure on local coachbuilders.
It also gives King Long Australia an opportunity to gain a foothold in the bus market.
