Head Turner Spotted

I suspect many of us feel that Poland is somehow less developed than England. We probably have an outdated perception more to do with a command economy, repressive
régimes, and inefficient and highly polluting primary industries. How wrong we can be.

If you regularly travel England’s high-speed trunk road network, you’ll increasingly see east European- and particularly Polish-registered coaches. That’s unsurprising, given that there are estimated to be about 500,000 Polish immigrants working in Britain, all of whom need to commute back-and-forth, from time to time. As do their dependants.

Here is one such coach. Apologies for the poor quality image. It really did catch me by surprise (and the sun didn’t help). If looks could kill, it demonstrates that the Poles are actually a threat not only to the UK coach manufacturing industry but to established style gurus, such as Setra and Neoplan/Neoman.

It’s a Solaris Vacanza, available like this as a tri-axle 12.9m, or as a conventional 12m. It rather takes you breath away in a way that the Noge Titanium does. Wait till the Vacanza is available in RHD form (assuming Solaris intends so doing—it’s known that the manufacturer wishes to continue to develop export markets, given that 80 per cent of its output already goes outside Poland).

Berlin IFS Designatelier FT Studio developed the Vacanza’s unique styling. The wedge-shape extends along the bodyline from the rear. Note the obliquely angled wheel arches and rhomboidal side windows. Note also the dramatic UVG-style asymmetric windscreen, which then extends upwards into the roofline.

It may be that for some, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The punter, though, looks for and these days expects something extra-ordinary. For this reason, we’d hazard a guess that the Solaris Vacanza is a hit in LHD markets—not least because it’s inevitably competitively priced.

It’s not at all bad from a business that’s only been manufacturing since 1994 and exporting since 2000, to 17 European countries. Indeed, in 2005, Solaris supplied 15 per cent of the German low floor urban bus requirements, third behind the top two German manufacturers. It also manufactures trolleys and claims Europe’s first hybrid diesel-electric hybrid bus based on volume-production technology. Solaris was awarded ‘Bus Builder of the Year’ 2005 at Belgium’s Busworld International.

The Vacanza 13 pictured top right is operated by Algabus of Złocieniec (AKA Falkenburg), Pomerania, north west Poland.