NatEX’s £100m ADL order
National Express has signed a £100m deal for 600 Alexander Dennis Ltd Enviro 400 double deckers and Enviro 200 midi buses. They will be joining the operator’s fleets in the West Midlands, Coventry and Dundee over the next five years. The exclusive arrangement will also involve the supply of replacement parts from the manufacturer.
Group Purchasing Director at National Express, Eddie Kerr, said, ‘ADL has recently delivered the 60 double deck buses that we ordered last year and, as in the past, we have been delighted with the quality of the vehicles and their delivery performance. Our engineers and our passengers like the ADL product range and this new, exclusive contract is an extension of a business relationship that has been nurtured successfully in recent years. All of the new vehicles that form part of this extended arrangement will be to the latest low-emission standards.’
‘The first 100-plus vehicles, which will be a mix of double decks and midi vehicles, will be to Euro6 specification and delivered in the second half of 2014. Thereafter we anticipate a further 125 buses per year during the period 2015-2018, taking the total replacement programme to circa 600 over five years. A by-product of this multi-year deal is the opportunity to create a nucleus of engineering skills and talent between two compatible companies focused on customer satisfaction and technology leadership. It is also particularly pleasing that all of these buses will be built at ADL factories in Scotland and England, helping us to underpin jobs in the UK.’
Chief Executive of ADL, Colin Robertson, said, ‘We are absolutely delighted to take our business relationship with National Express to a new level. Multi-year contracts make so much sense for everyone involved. They give both parties a clear profile of expectations, forward build programmes and financials. An added bonus is that they release our best and brightest people, on both sides, to pursue new business growth opportunities, rather than being locked into months of repetitive tender negotiations annually. My instinct is that in the years ahead we will see changes in the way we do business and more ‘partnerships’ of this nature developing in the bus industry.’