SOLARIS BUS & COACH IN ITALY: SOLARIS URBINO BUSES TAKE TO THE STREETS OF AVELLINO

Last week nine Solaris Urbino 10 low floor city buses entered service in the city of Avellino in southern Italy. The buses, built in Poland by Solaris Bus & Coach, were chosen as being ideal to meet the requirements of the local

operator in the town located at the foot of the Appenines.

"The city of Avellino is our company‘s seventh customer in Italy. We are very happy to see our buses being so well received in this country, especially that in terms of sales volume Italy ranks among the leading countries in the European Union. This is a market with huge potential, and we perceive it as being very important to us," said Krzysztof Olszewski, Solaris Bus & Coach chairman and chief executive.

The Bolechowo-based bus and coach manufacturer saw a noticeable growth in interest in its Solaris brand on the Italian market in 2004, that subsequently brought an increase in export business. The Solaris customer base in Italy has expanded recently with the latest addition of operators in the city of Naples, the mountain resorts of Cortina d‘Ampezzo and Como, and the city of Bari on the coast of the Adriatic. The city of Naples opted for the Polish-built Solaris Trollino trolley buses, while the remaining three operators chose the Solaris Urbino low floor buses.

Solaris Bus & Coach established its presence on the Italian market in 2002, and the first Solaris units delivered to Italian customers were a batch of seven Solaris Urbino 18 articulated buses sold to Salerno. In the same year Solaris Bus & Coach signed a contract to supply 30 Solaris Trollino 18-metre trolley buses to the city of Rome. These trolley buses were subsequently delivered to ATAC Roma, one of Italy‘s largest city transport operators, over the following two years.

Especially popular among Italian customers are the 10-metre and 18-metre articulated buses. All buses sold on the Italian market are fitted with air-conditioning for the entire passenger compartment as standard. Short and very nippy, thanks to their manoeuvrability, Solaris Urbino 10 buses are very well suited to narrow roads on tough mountainous routes. Similar Solaris Urbino models are also marketed in Switzerland, among other countries.


"Italy is a very demanding market. The operators not only are after a good-quality product, but they also want to have a choice of a vehicle and model that ideally meets their needs. In these circumstances, the possibility, offered by Solaris, of tailoring the vehicles to meet the customer‘s specific requirements by specifying individual vehicle components is a very attractive proposition for Italian operators," added Krzysztof Olszewski.