Leyland starts with new de-reg midi-bus
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• Leyland Bus's manufacturing director George Newburn has revealed plans for a new midi-bus — the first vehicle to be developed by the company since the management-led buy-out at the end of July (CM, Aug 2).
Newburn says the midi-bus will be a 30-35-seater, significantly larger than the Optare City Pacer with 20 to 25 seats. The minibus will sell well in the period immediately following deregulation, says Newburn, but he expects operators to seek larger vehicles with longer vehicle lives in the future. CM expects the new midi to be a scaled-down version of Levland's Tiger chassis.
L1 Leyland is planning a .22 million training programme for all its workforce, including several workers who are about to be made redundant The programme will train the workforce to use new automated manufacturing techniques and computer equipment to increase productivity. Newburn hopes the programme will help the company to double productivity within a year. Those workers who are about to be made redundant, but are still to be trained, may be re-employed by the company if bus markets improve.