Nice bodies, shame about the profitability

摘要

European bus and coach manufacturers are struggling to make anything like a reasonable return on their investment. But that has not stopped them from producing some stunning vehicles. David Wilcox reports. No sooner had the coaching season begun to wind down in September but the European show season started, with the UK's Coach & Bus 2003 show in Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre; followed by Busworld in Kortrijk, Belgium last month; followed by Bus and Bus Business in Verona, Italy this month. Yet vehicle manufacturers would seem to have precious little to celebrate at such events. Sales were down last year in Europe, the US and South America. China was a notable bright spot, and there has been a slight recovery generally in sales so far this year. But the ever-more-powerful, luxuriously-equipped and strikingly-styled coaches that have been strutting their stuff over the past few months hint at a more buoyant and upbeat industry than the financial results suggest.