Re-start of an Affair

With the sheets barely cold after their last brief encounter in bed together, comes news that Alexander Dennis Ltd has bought Plaxton Holdings, to double the size of ADL and create a new and more formidable force in UK bus manufacturing.

They’ve been wedded before, of course. Then, it was just a fling, cut short when financial problems were allowed to enter the bedroom, erm, boardroom. Now, the pair has made up. How could the macho-sounding Alexander Dennis again resist the sensuous and curvy Plaxton?

The pairing which emerged yesterday was something of a surprise. After the troubled post-Transbus divorce of 2004, when the Pointer love child remained with ADL rather than Plaxton, who’d’ve thought the two would now be making eyes at each other? Especially as post split and bus-less Plaxton had recently invested heavily in re-entry, into a field Dominated by ADL.

ADL says that the existing product ranges will remain independent of each other. But the Plaxton Centro (on the VDL SB120/SB200, Volvo B7RLE and MAN) competes head-on with ADL’s Enviro200 and, to a lesser extent, the Enviro300. Could there eventually be some rationalisation? Plenty of history to suggest there could be. Whether the bus products are complementary or competitive is a moot point. It's a fact, though, that the Plaxton Primo has no ADL equivalent (but is as yet to find its feet).

From a coach perspective, the buy out makes a deal of sense, with the possibility of a strong tie-in between ADL’s R-type/Javelin and Plaxton’s that might actually strengthen and kick-start ADL’s coach chassis market share.

There are other sound reasons for the merger. It surely cannot be long till we see the much talked-about Asian coach influx. ADL/Plaxton strengthens the manufacturers’ robustness against such a market change. And if ADL itself is to advance in continental markets, it needs the strength that comes with the consolidation of Britain’s leading manufacturers. A proper UK assault on European markets is, after all, long over due, since the continentals arrived here 25 years ago. It’s something we’ve not managed to achieve to any great extent. May be this time. Can the passionate newly weds pull it off?

• January 2001 – Transbus formed after the merger of Mayflower (Walter Alexander, Dennis) and Henlys (Paxton)


• March 2004 – Transbus collapses


• May 2004 – Plaxton management buys Plaxton plant and trades under Plaxton name


• May 2004 – within days, Alexander Dennis formed following purchase by independent business people, including Stagecoach’s Brian Souter, and Anne Gloag.
  

2007 is Plaxton’s centenary

(Yesterday saw the de-merger of Daimler-Bnez and Chrysler, after nine years. The Mercedes Citaro LE Ü is currently Europe’s bus of the year)