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Re: Very topical comment on "Buy American" from hsr blog site
Author: Erik H.
Date: 12-18-2010 - 22:55
mook Wrote:
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> Now name me one (just one) rail transit (or even bus, these days) maker that is OWNED AND
> OPERATED in the US...and in the bus business you have to look really hard.
Gillig.
GILLIG is a privately held corporation based in Hayward, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco. The company is over 115 years old and is 100% U.S. owned and operated. We manufacture and sell heavy-duty transit buses.
[www.gillig.com]
Didn't take me very hard to look for them.
Another one is Thor Industries, which manufactures transit buses primarily under the Eldorado National brand, but also under Champion Bus and Goshen Coach:
in April, 2004, Thor was added to Standard & Poor's Mid-Cap 400. Also in 2004, Forbes declared Thor to be one of the "Best Managed Companies in America". In 2005, Fortune called Thor one of "America's Most Admired Companies,"
[www.thorindustries.com]
If you want to be less picky, New Flyer is a Canadian company, although NovaBus is owned by Volvo Group (not the same as Volvo Cars, which used to be owned by Ford for awhile and is now owned by Geely Holding Group, a Chinese company.) Orion Bus is owned by Daimler (a German company) who also owns Thomas Bus (manufacturer of school buses, although has had some transit bus designs in the past) and Setra (manufacturer of motorcoaches).
The really quirky bus manufacturer is North American Bus Industries (NABI). Their heritage goes back to Ikarus Bus, a Hungarian concern which started importing buses into the U.S. in the early 1980s. Ikarus partnered with Crown Coach (a storied manufacturer of school buses until the mid-1980s) and then another company before forming their own manufacturing facility in the U.S. under several business identities. In 2006, however it appears NABI was purchased by Cerberus Capital Management and thus any Hungarian ownership ceased - however I believe NABI still sources its bus frames/bodies from Hungary. Cerberus also owns Optima Bus and Blue Bird Bus (think school buses, although Blue Bird has also dabbled in transit buses in the past.)
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> Now name me one (just one) rail transit (or even bus, these days) maker that is OWNED AND
> OPERATED in the US...and in the bus business you have to look really hard.
Gillig.
GILLIG is a privately held corporation based in Hayward, California, 25 miles southeast of San Francisco. The company is over 115 years old and is 100% U.S. owned and operated. We manufacture and sell heavy-duty transit buses.
[www.gillig.com]
Didn't take me very hard to look for them.
Another one is Thor Industries, which manufactures transit buses primarily under the Eldorado National brand, but also under Champion Bus and Goshen Coach:
in April, 2004, Thor was added to Standard & Poor's Mid-Cap 400. Also in 2004, Forbes declared Thor to be one of the "Best Managed Companies in America". In 2005, Fortune called Thor one of "America's Most Admired Companies,"
[www.thorindustries.com]
If you want to be less picky, New Flyer is a Canadian company, although NovaBus is owned by Volvo Group (not the same as Volvo Cars, which used to be owned by Ford for awhile and is now owned by Geely Holding Group, a Chinese company.) Orion Bus is owned by Daimler (a German company) who also owns Thomas Bus (manufacturer of school buses, although has had some transit bus designs in the past) and Setra (manufacturer of motorcoaches).
The really quirky bus manufacturer is North American Bus Industries (NABI). Their heritage goes back to Ikarus Bus, a Hungarian concern which started importing buses into the U.S. in the early 1980s. Ikarus partnered with Crown Coach (a storied manufacturer of school buses until the mid-1980s) and then another company before forming their own manufacturing facility in the U.S. under several business identities. In 2006, however it appears NABI was purchased by Cerberus Capital Management and thus any Hungarian ownership ceased - however I believe NABI still sources its bus frames/bodies from Hungary. Cerberus also owns Optima Bus and Blue Bird Bus (think school buses, although Blue Bird has also dabbled in transit buses in the past.)
