Optare Share Discussion Threads

[kimoldfield] 04/12/2014 15:09

36 new registrations in November, is there a bit of upward momentum here?!

[cougar99] 04/12/2014 12:06

Yes, but it is a Non regulatory one.....

.... but at least they have put it on the News page of their website.

[bump3r] 04/12/2014 07:17

Jeez an RNS

[kimoldfield] 03/12/2014 01:21

Valance batteries project completion.

www.sys-con.com/node/3247248

[jsbach123] 28/11/2014 08:11

Too much to hope that they are on 'How to build buses at a profit' or 'How to sell in volume' courses Cougar. I suspect also that there is a market opening for an educator to provide a 'How to get rid of a company Chairman who has destroyed shareholder value' course.

[cougar99] 28/11/2014 05:25

kim .... unfortunately I don't speak any Scandinavian languages fluently and so do not have the requisite language skills required for Optare .... although I did learn a bit of Swedish a few decades ago via a language course on Radio Sweden's Shortwave Service. I did learn a bit of Esperanto, Thai, and Arabic a while ago as well .... plus French at school .... if Optare think any of these languages would be useful for their PR then they are free to make me an offer ...

Unfortunately I feel the next Optare press release will be in an Old Norse variation of Double Dutch with right to left scripting, additional tone marks, multiple alliterations, and Cyrillic numbers ....

PS: Just a thought .... perhaps reason OPT PR are presently so quiet is that they are away on language courses

[kimoldfield] 27/11/2014 18:25

I think there may be a job for you in Optare's PR office Cougar, you certainly do a better job than the existing team. Has Rebecca Green forgotten that she is Marketing, Press and Events Manager or does her remit not actually include releasing meaningful optimistic news to the general public. Will this news be released by Optare, will it be in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Double Dutch? Watch this space! 😀

[cougar99] 27/11/2014 14:52

A fleet of brand new buses is helping people with mobility problems get out and about in Huddersfield



The vehicles, which were built by bus manufacturing company Optare at its factory near Leeds, have two additional low-floor seats which can be used if there are no wheelchairs on board. The bus can carry 15 seated passengers or 12 seated passengers and two wheelchairs

[kimoldfield] 26/11/2014 13:31

I'm not sure whether or not this has been posted previously, it is a write up by Tim Deakin of Route One on driving the MetroDecker. It is a very encouraging write up which finishes "the model’s order book will formally open at Euro Bus Expo next month."
I hope that the order book is not still in it's virgin state!

[cougar99] 22/11/2014 22:27

the article in Norwegian mentions the sale of two buses in Sweden .... anyone any idea if it is just a case of these two being left behind two years ago:

[cougar99] 22/11/2014 22:22

and so onwards to Sweden ...but in English ....

[cougar99] 20/11/2014 16:35

... and whilst on the subject of the DD then let us see if this article from May about the ends up being true ....

Mr Vassallo noted that many of the sales will be connected to operators winning tenders for bus routes, but that the target was to sell roughly 100 buses in the next 18 months. The company is also looking to sell the bus globally.

[cougar99] 20/11/2014 16:15

...as regards the DD then I would expect sales to be at least equal to the Bonito UK sales... :-)

[jsbach123] 20/11/2014 07:27

FFS posting a link to text in Norwegian as 'News' I begin to question whether the company would be better off with no Press and PR at all. In case this thread is read by the company department I offer a suggestion - put the text through an online translation program and then edit/rewrite to remove the inevitable bad or silly mistranslations that usually arise and post the English version as 'news'.

Sadly no reports of gaining large orders (any orders?) for the new DD.

[kimoldfield] 20/11/2014 01:18

I will have to brush up on my Norwegian and Swedish language skills!

[cougar99] 19/11/2014 16:08

hi, Kimoldfield ... thanks for info.,,, looks like Google search with 24 hour timeline isn't reliable ....

At least the Norwegian link works today as it didn't yesterday. The article is also on the equivalent Swedish website ......

[kimoldfield] 19/11/2014 10:08

I think that was previously announced as an order in March Cougar, it would seem that the buses have now been delivered and put into service.

I have to congratulate Optare's wonderful PR Department for the latest news article on their website which directs you to a news item which is in Norwegian!

[cougar99] 19/11/2014 01:20

Enrico Vassallo, CEO of Optare said: “Optare is thrilled to be supporting cleaner travel on Northern Ireland’s transport system with the supply of 37 of the latest low emission Euro 6 Optare buses. Translink’s decision to choose Optare Versa and Solo vehicles is testament to the environmental technology and cost effectiveness of our UK made buses. These vehicles represent the largest batch of Euro 6 vehicles supplied so far this year by Optare”

[cougar99] 14/11/2014 10:27

Registrations by marque (with 2013 figures in brackets) were: ADL 131 (98), Volvo Bus 14 (58), Wrightbus 39 (70), Optare 43 (15), Scania 17 (5), Mercedes-Benz (excluding Setra) 46 (2), Van Hool 37 (4), VDL 9 (7), Neoplan 4 (0), Setra 0 (3), Irizar 1 (0), King Long 9 (0), other imports 0 (2), MAN (excluding Neoplan) 0 (0), Iris Bus 2 (3), Yutong 3 (0) and Caetano 0 (0).

[kimoldfield] 13/11/2014 13:12

One way of looking at that MTG, is that Optare are cutting down on wasting money on rubbish products such as the ill fated Bonito!

[m.t.glass] 13/11/2014 10:58

YORKSHIRE NEWS / 13 NOV 2014
RGF DROP-OUTS PASS 100 AND ALMOST HIT £500M

The number of projects and programmes allocated Regional Growth Fund (RGF) cash but are now not proceeding has risen past the 100 mark, Insider can reveal.

A well-known Yorkshire manufacturer is among the companies not to have taken up the funding despite successful bids, meaning almost £500m has not been drawn down from the government's flagship economic stimulus programme since it was launched three years ago. The latest figures were provided to Insider following a Freedom of Information request.

The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) told Insider that from 3 February 2014 to 7 November, 22 companies which had been allocated funds have elected not to take the money.

This is on top of 94 from rounds one to five of the RGF.

In total, it means that 116 awards with a value of £491m are no longer proceeding. The money was made available to the beneficiaries, but not drawn down, BIS said.

Two Yorkshire businesses, Barnsley-based Silkstone Finance and Leeds-headquartered bus manufacturer Optare, are in the latest 22 companies which BIS said had not drawn down their allocated money.

No details were disclosed about the Silkstone Finance's successful bid in the fourth round of the RGF, but Optare received a conditional offer of funds from the same round which it said at the time could be worth up to £1.5m.

At the time, deputy chief executive Glenn Saint said the grant was directly linked to Optare's programme of developing new products for export markets.

A spokesman for Optare told Insider the business had decided not to go ahead with the project.

In June, the then business secretary Michael Fallon said RGF payments remained on track, despite criticism regarding how long it takes for recipients to get their grants.

Fallon said £1.2bn has now been paid out to projects and programmes from the first five rounds of the RGF ahead of the 30 September closing date for sixth round applications.



insidermedia.com

[cougar99] 12/11/2014 16:17

Triple decker: buses at Euro Bus Expo



The third new double-decker was Optare's MetroDecker. When this was launched in the summer it was with a two-door version, a layout only of interest to London. The show model was a single-door bus, which uses the same structure, with an emergency exit in place of the second door. It's clever, if visually untidy – but how many passengers will notice?

The MetroDecker has the same four-cylinder Mercedes engine as the Wrightbus StreetDeck. At a length of 11.4m it can seat 84 passengers and can carry 15 standees. Optare faces a considerable challenge breaking in to a double-deck market where ADL, Wrightbus and Volvo are well established, and Scania has a presence too. Can it carve out a niche in a crowded market?


.....Optare plans an electric double-decker in the second half of 2015.

[kimoldfield] 12/11/2014 10:33

JSB, I am assuming that the PR Department are doing there very best to produce an acceptable précis of what otherwise would have been an enormous press release/RNS listing their magnificent achievements over the past few weeks! 😀

It is strange how we learn of bigger sales from magazines yet PR trumpet sales of 1 or 2 buses!

[jsbach123] 12/11/2014 07:27

Am I alone in thinking that there is something very wrong with a company's Press and PR department that announces the sale of a single bus but does not give any information about the results of its participation in major international and domestic trade events? Where are the large orders for the new DD?