Standard vs Cutaway vs Vicinity My husband read the full transcript and did some cursory research on competing products, below is his summary of what he found. This may provide some context to what BUS is referring to when they talk about their amazing growth trajectory, which they say will make it possible for them to reach sales of $500M in a “relatively short time frame”.
Standard and Cutaway Bus formats
In North America, the 40’ bus is the norm. However, these long buses don’t work as well in areas where there is low ridership or narrow streets. A shorter or smaller bus is required. At present, most of the shorter buses that are available are cutaways like a cube van. Unfortunately, these modified buses only have a five year lifespan, are not the most comfortable to ride, and they carry a number of inefficiencies that increase operating costs.
https://www.grandewest.com/images/pdf/SV_BEFV_December2014_0.pdf
Cutaway buses are typically built on a Ford, Freightliner or GM platform. Often, the Ford E-450 is used
https://www.ford.ca/commercial-trucks/e-series-cutaway/models/e450-cutaway-drw/
This type of cutaway is also often used as the basis for ambulances, delivery vans, school buses and smaller commercial buses.
https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Ford_Motor_Company_E-Series_Cutaway
https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/BC_Transit#Future_Fleet
Grande West Vicinity
Heavy Duty Community Bus
Vicinity comes in 27.5’, 30’ and 35’ models
Steel monocoque structure
Uses many standard 40’ bus components, North American sourced
12 year design life, 2 year warranty
https://grandewest.com/index.php/vehicles/overview
https://grandewest.com/index.php/vehicles/advantages
Medium Duty Crossover Bus
... medium-duty, monocoque-designed rear engine vehicle.
... high-quality, cost competitive vehicle will be offered from 22' to 28' lengths, designed for use in community service, airports, campuses, hotel shuttles, etc. This new high capacity vehicle was designed and built following the same quality standards used in our Best In Class heavy-duty mid-size Vicinity buses.
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/grande-west-announces-3-million-cng-vicinity-order-675133453.html
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/grande-west-unveils-new-medium-duty-multi-purpose-transit-vehicle-650384583.html
Earnings call transcript excerpt
Looking ahead, we are very excited about the future. Part of our strategic plan is to reach $500 million in sales in a relatively short time frame. In order to achieve that goal, we need to expand our product line. So now it's the time to fast-track our 100%, zero-emission electric bus project and lighter-duty crossover bus model.
Remember we temporarily placed those projects on the back burner; not anymore. We're looking to fast-track these 2 projects, and the electric bus is a high-revenue, high-margin-generating product. And our crossover model has potential of becoming a high-volume generator with good margins.
The Vicinity electric bus will place Grande West in an excellent position to capture market share as the demand for zero-emission buses grows. Our crossover bus model will provide Grande West access to the high-end cutaway bus market segment. Municipalities of all sizes across Canada and the U.S, along with private operators in multiple sectors, are looking for more robust, low floor accessible bus to replace their cutaways.
Summary
The fast-tracking of the medium duty crossover represents an attempt to expand BUS’ market share from transit / commercial to a broader set of applications including community service / airport / campus / hotel shuttles and other lower value higher volume markets which are currently being served almost exclusively by cutaway buses. Look for BUS to promote the same advantages in these spaces as they do for transit - longer design life, lower operating costs, improved rider comfort and convenience, etc.
In their own words, the main goal of offering an electric option is designing electric and hybrid buses so they don’t lose out to competitors offering those options. It’s important to have such a vehicle in the stable of product offerings, even if the customer ultimately decides on a conventional powertrain option.
https://grandewest.com/index.php/investors/in-the-news/15-investors/news/2017/146-this-little-canadian-bus-company-is-now-a-big-takeover-target