Seems there has been a rumour circulated in the bus industry for a good while, but there is a bit more bone to the rumour now. Apparently Chinese manufacturer BYD are looking to buy the company. An association between ADL and BYD is of course nothing new, as the two manufacturers have a collaboration where ADL will body BYD's electric chassis.
Well if there is one bit of good news, at least the UK's largest bus company and bus manufacturer will no longer be in common ownership, though I would assume that if this were to proceed that Stagecoach will continue to mostly buy from ADL. In fact if the companies were no longer under common ownership Stagecoach would no longer be required to buy a certain proportion of non ADL stuff, but on the other hand Stagecoach would no longer have the big cost advantage over its competitors as there would now be a level playing field in terms of new bus prices and running costs between them and the other operators.
In another rumour, Volvo are supposed to be interested in buying a 40% stake of ADL, this would be a case of history repeating itself given that Volvo already bought out Britain's biggest bus and coach manufacturer (Leyland) back in the 80s. That would certainly be interesting given that excluding the coaches, Stagecoach basically didn't buy any Volvos since the demise of the Olympian in 1999 until the Euro 6 B5LH came out two years ago and the odd batch of saloons here and there.
Interesting times ahead, especially if the sale goes through. Would be interesting to see if Volvo buys a stake in the company.


