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Capturing Phil Heath in mid-pose, at the 2014 Mr Olympia contest in Las Vegas. Phil Heath is the current Mr Olympia title holder.
The sad story of the decline and administration of Wrightbus.
As recently as five years ago, Wrightbus was still riding high. It was vying with Alexander Dennis Limited as market leader in the United Kingdom (UK) for buses and indeed in some years prior to that it had actually been market leader. Yet barely a few years later, it had suffered a rapid decline and crashed into administration in one of the most significant issues to affect the industry since the TransBus International debacle. So what happened?
Well like all sad stories it’s important to start at the beginning. Wrightbus was founded in 1946 as Robert Wright & Son Coachbuilders in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. In its early years it rebodied lorries for schools and for local authorities for accessible transport needs. In 1978, the company released its first aluminium-structured bus bodywork but it went barely noticed in mainland of the UK. During the 1980s Wright was not yet a major player in the UK bus market, and most of its sales continued to be to the welfare sector. To try and expand its presence, it designed a very stylish coach body, the Wright Contour. It was built between 1982 until 1987, with the first entering service with Whittles in 1983. Most were fitted to Bedford Y series, but others were seven Leyland Tigers for Ulsterbus, one Ford R1115 and one ACE Puma IV midicoach. The Contour was an attempt to break into the coach market, but only 37 Contours were built over 5 years, prompting Wright to withdraw from the coach market. It also dabbled with minibus building but it was fighting amongst more established players in the market and so while a few sales took place, there were but a drop in the ocean.
Wright's breakthrough into the mainstream bus bodybuilding sector in the UK came in the early 1990s wIth the Handybus. The Handybus was a midibus body offered on a variety of chassis but was probably most successful than some with bodies on the emerging Dennis Dart in attracting reasonably-sized orders from a variety of operators including London Buses, Go Ahead Northern, Ulsterbus and Citybus (Belfast). It was a very square design but unusually featured a recessed driver’s windscreen, angled towards the driver. London Buses went for the type in a big way and many compared the type to the famous London RF type of the 1950s.
This was followed by Wrights with a move into the full size single deck market with the Endeavour which was fitted to Dennis Javelin, Leyland Tiger and Scania K93 chassis, and enabled Wright to develop its highly successful Endurance body which competed with the Alexander Strider and Northern Counties Paladin for orders on Volvo B10B and Scania N113CRB chassis. It saw Wrightbus bodies appear in a variety of fleets.
It was during this period that a friendship was struck between William Wright, son of the original Robert Wright, and Moir Lockheed, Chief Executive of the expanding GRT Group. GRT was one of the embryonic groups forming at that time and had high expectations of increasing passenger comfort. It saw Wrightbus bodywork increasingly preferred for GRT companies. When GRT merged with Badgerline to form Firstbus, it saw Wrightbus become that organisation’s preferred supplier.
Other Wright products introduced in this period included two Mercedes-Benz-based products, the O405 based Cityranger and the OH1416 based Urbanranger. This was launched around the time bus operators in the UK began switching to low floor chassis. As a consequence the Urbanranger only attracted a handful of orders. The Cityranger appeared in some GRT fleets. However Wright had become well established in the bus bodybuilding sector by then and was more than able to exploit the opportunities the low-floor revolution would offer it from the mid-1990s onwards.
In 1993, the Pathfinder on low floor Dennis Lance SLF and Scania N113CRL chassis was unveiled. It saw Wrightbus selected by London’s Buses as the body supplier for the first mass trial of these accessible. buses. Wrightbus was seen as the market leader for low-floor vehicles. However the Dennis and Scania N113CRL buses were still expensive as well as quite compromised (by today’s standards) for accessibility and if they were to achieve market penetration, what was needed was a cheaper alternatives for cost conscious operator. Step forward Wrightbus again, this time with Scania’s help.
The snappily titled Axcess-Ultralow was introduced in 1995 and offered on the Scania L113 chassis. At this time it was selling in reasonable numbers to UK bus operators, but unlike other bodybuilders who could only offer the L113 with step-entrance bodies, Wright modified it by removing the middle section of the chassis and thus offered UK bus operators one of the first mainstream low-floor body/chassis combinations. A major customer for the Axcess-Ultralow was Firstbus taking approximately 240. Next up was the Volvo B10L based Liberator introduced at the end of 1995. A notable purchase came from National Express, who ordered 120 in 1997.
Next came the Renown body built on the Volvo B10BLE which went on to become the standard bus of the Blazefield Group and was also ordered by Go-Ahead Northern and Firstbus. However Renown production was stopped when the B10BLE was replaced by the Volvo B7L on the new Wright Eclipse (later Wright Eclipse Metro), which due to its vertical rear engine wasn't popular with many operators. However Wright did not lose custom and many operators including the likes of Ulsterbus simply switched to the incline-engined Scania L94UB, on a similar Wright Solar body. Another bodywork, which resembles the current Solar/Eclipse range is the Meridian, which was bodied on the MAN A22 full low-floor single-deck chassis. It was introduced as an alternative to the MAN 18.220 range which only really sold to Stagecoach, with Alexander/TransBus/Alexander Dennis bodies. It didn’t sell well, with only a handful of Meridians going to Newport Transport. Other body types offered in due course were the Cadet and Commander on DAF/VDL bus, which sold well to Arriva companies, which was hardly surprising given Arriva held the import franchise for DAF/VDL Bus at the time.
As Dennis became part of Mayflower Bus and Coach, the number of Dennis bodies built by Wrightbus declined. However, Wrightbus offered the only real competition to the all conquering Dennis Dart with its Cadet body on both the Volvo B6LE (later B6BLE) and DAF/VDL SB120. Volvo later dropped the B7L, having replaced it with the B7RLE, more to UK operators tastes, and Wrightbus updated its Eclipse bodywork body work to offer the B7RLE with the Eclipse Urban, to differentiate it from the now renamed Eclipse Metro to anyone who wanted the B7L still. Which no one did…..It also introduced its first articulated vehicles, initially on Volvo chassis and later on Scania. These were the Eclipse Fusion on Volvo chassis and Solar Fusion on Scania, most of which went to Firstbus. However you may have noticed one sector not covered - double deckers. Wrightbus rather oddly felt that articulated buses were the way to go and saw no need for a double decker. That was to change.
With the formation of TransBus, it meant that the majority of Volvo’s double-deckers would be bodied by a competitor. Despite claims by TransBus to the contrary, Volvo was worried that TransBus would try and persuade potential customers to buy its own buses instead of Volvo’s. Whilst East Lancs could build some, it worried about capacity. It needed another option. So, that and pressure from operators with similar concerns persuaded Wrightbus to design a new double-decker body - The Gemini.
The first Wright Eclipse Gemini double-decker was first built on the Volvo B7TL chassis in 2001. A similarly styled bus entered service with Arriva London in August 2003 as the Wright Pulsar Gemini on the VDL DB250 chassis. Apparently designs were produced for a Scania version (Solar Gemini?) but none were built. But the Gemini was a stylish, smart design and looked well ahead of the competing President and ALX400 designs from TransBus as it was then. Large operators of Gemini-bodied buses include Arriva, FirstGroup, Go-Ahead Group and National Express. Key customers won from TransBus were Lothian Buses as well as Metroline, although other companies dual sourced and bought both Gemini’s and other type. Only Stagecoach remained immune and didn’t order any until 2016, although it acquire some with purchases of other companies, such as Yorkshire Traction’s operations in Lincolnshire and part of First’s Manchester’s operation with the sale of its Wigan garage.
Wrightbus formed an increasingly close relationship with Volvo and through Volvo, it won major export orders for operators in Asia with the B10TL Super Olympian and then the B9TL when the B10TL was discontinued. With TransBus going through its own issues, Wrightbus overtook it to be the UK market-leader in bus bodywork.
You may notice the slight important difference there. Wrightbus was a bodybuilder at this stage. It didn’t build its own buses. That didn’t come until much later. However an unexpected and subsequent blow saw the B7TL banned from London due to noise issues, removing an important market for a while until Volvo introduced its B9TL replacement a few years later.
Following the TransBus implosion, successor Alexander Dennis began to recover some of the ground it lost under TransBus. It updated its range to include the very stylish Enviro 200 and 300 single-deckers and 400 double-decker. So to fight back, Wrightbus refreshed its range to produce the Cadet 2, Eclipse 2 and Gemini 2. These were mainly built on Volvo and VDL Bus chassis, Scania having decided to launch its own integral range.
From 2008, Hybrids were seen as the next big thing in the bus world. Volvo introduced the B5LH and Wright adapted its Gemini body accordingly for this new design. However the company also introduced its own Gemini Integral. This wasn’t quite as integral as you may think as it was actually built on an adapted VDL Bus chassis. But it showed that the company was beginning to think along these lines.
The next big issue was the New Routemaster. I’ve covered that bus and its merits in detail here:- flic.kr/p/2mB9qfd
However, the winning of this contract would have a major effect on Wrightbus and some say that this is where the decline of the company started. It changed the company from a bodybuilder into a complete vehicle builder. So in a fateful decision, it acquired extra premises near its current factory to build the New Routemasters.
At the same time Wrightbus wasn’t immune to the flaws in the New Routemaster - in that no one outside London would buy it - and with only 1000 on order over five years, it had this new chassis plant that needed to be kept busy. So it made the second fateful decision to introduce its own integral range of complete buses.
To be fair to Wrightbus, this wasn’t all down to them. Fuel consumption was becoming a major concern to bus operators and loud voices, such as Firstbus’s Moir Lockheed, were calling for lighter weight chassis to save diesel. Alexander Dennis was ahead of the curve in this regard as most of its chassis were lightweight chassis anyway and Volvo and other chassis makes with their heavyweight chassis were seen suddenly as old hat. So Wrightbus introduced its lightweight Streetlite and Streetdeck range.
The Streetdeck was an integral double-decker built on a Wrightbus designed chassis. It had a Mercedes-Benz engine and was designed to compete with the Enviro 400 and crucially the Volvo B9TL. A hybrid version was also available. The Streetlite was a single-decker and available in two variants - the WF (Wheel Forward) which had its entrance behind the front wheel. That variant was designed to compete with the similar design of the Optare Solo. The DF (door forward) variant as seen here by 63268 (SN14DYW) was designed to compete with the Enviro 200. Initially, both Streetlites were available with Cummins and Mercedes-Benz engines, but Cummins was dropped with the move to Euro VI.
However, the decision to launch its own range seems to have led to a breakdown in the relationship with Volvo. Suddenly Wrightbus was competing with Volvo - sounds familiar. So in a repeat of earlier TransBus days, it launched bodywork available by Egyptian company MCV and even allowed Alexander Dennis to build on its chassis, who had launched their frighteningly competent and stylish Enviro 400MMC double-decker.
Nothing daunted, Wrightbus announced it was moving to a new factory in Ballymena, a converted tobacco factory. This would hopefully enable savings to be made as the whole assembly would be under one roof, rather than separate bits built on various halls on the previous factory. All looked fine at this stage but as the New Routemaster contract ended in 2017, it now meant that chassis plant desperately needed more orders. To improve the appeal of its vehicles, it updated the styling of its Eclipse and Gemini bodies, introducing a more aggressive, angular styling known as the ‘stealth’ front, after the United States Air Force’s F117A NIghthawk fighter, known as the Stealth Bomber. It certainly was an acquired taste compared to the curves of the previous Gemini. It also announced it was entering the fledgling electric bus market with the StreetAir, which was an electric single-decker based on an adapted Streetdeck chassis with batteries on the roof.
Then the problems started in 2018. Quality issues began to manifest themselves with its new integral range. Reports of build quality issues, even collapsed floors on some vehicles, began to surface. Although its Streetdeck/Streetlite range was selling, it wasn’t selling well enough to keep the vast new factory busy. It’s Streetdeck range hasn’t achieved any real penetration in London, a crucial market for double-deckers with only Arriva ordering a small batch. The hybrid version of the Streetdeck had flopped, with only First West Yorkshire taking any for use on park and ride services around Leeds. It’s Streetlite range had been ordered by some operators but was being outsold multiple times over by Alexander Dennis’s Enviro 200 model.
On top of that, key customers such as Firstbus and Arriva weren’t ordering as many buses as before or were placing what business they did want elsewhere. Quality issues had seen operators such as Metroline, Lothian and Tower Transit place orders elsewhere. Lothian, which had been the first - and so for only - customer for the StreetAir had found them hopelessly unreliable and it was reported that this unreliability was a key reason that it’s next buses were ordered from Alexander Dennis. The company was caught in a perfect storm.
Then came probably the issues that in all likelihood doomed the company. To keep the new Ballymena factory busy, it took the decision to build an order for a Hong Kong operator in Northern Ireland rather than in China, where buses for the former colony were assembled from kits. It also built Streetdeck buses in anticipation of an order from Firstbus but without the contract signed. Whilst this kept the workers busy, it proved a very expensive decision when you factor in build costs here compared to China and shipping to Asia. Building buses in anticipation of an order is also not a good idea, especially when the order isn’t then confirmed. These were the straws that broke the camel’s back. In July 2019, the company announced it needed investment to support what was listed as ‘cash flow’ issue. Then in September 2019, the company crashed into administration.
However it was the scale of the subsequent job losses that surprised many. The administrators - who in fairness to them have to try and salvage something from the financial wreckage of the company - only retained 50 of the staff and made the remaining 1,200 redundant. Whilst any job losses are terrible news for those affected, the size of these losses suggested that the company’s problems were more severe than anyone out with the directors of Wrightbus were letting on. Then stories came to light of poor working conditions and some questionable donations being made to a religious charity run and set up by the Wright family members. In fairness these donations were made in the past when the company was very profitable but it didn’t look good given the then current circumstances.
It looked the company may not survive. However, the slimmed down business was bought by Joe Bamford, son of the owners of the JCB Company who looked to set the company up as a pioneer in the field of Hydrogen Buses. The pandemic stunted the recovery but the company - which is now known as the Bamford Bus Company but trades as Wrightbus - has begun the slow climb back up from its darkest hour. Former staff were recruited again, helped by large orders from Rotala and Translink. The Rotala order included the same buses that were actually built in anticipation of the Firstbus order, which explains why some brand new Rotala buses running about Greater Manchester featuring interiors designed for Firstbus routes in Leeds. However these welcome orders gave the company the breathing room it needed to innovate and launch new products. Whether it’ll ever return to the levels it was, time will no doubt tell.