More Comebacks than Status Quo

So, the deed is done! Someone’s bought Optare. And, from a very selfish point of view, it’s rather a pity because it now means the end of the 10-day long significant spike in hits following google searches such as ‘Darwen buys Optare’, ‘Optare for sale’ and ‘Optare rumours’. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

Anyway. That someone is Roy Stanley, the man who formed Darwen Group last year, is the current Tanfield Group and Darwen chairman, and assembler of Jamesstan Investments, the investment company now owning the entire Optare stock, as of yesterday.

Optare’s been looking to sell for some time. And there’s much trumpeting of ‘business as usual’ at Optare, as you would expect. But the door is now well-and-truly open for greater collaboration, co-operation and development. And with Darwen seemingly beset with delivery problems, Stanley will undoubtedly be looking for synergies in developing Optare-type integrals that rely less on chassis manufacturers.

Brief History of Optare (or, More comebacks than Status Quo)

• 1985—Upon Leyland’s decision to close its Roe bodybuilding factory, a management buyout forms Optare


• 1986—Optare launches its first home-grown body, the stylish CityPacer, followed by the StarRider


• 1988—launch of avant-garde single deck Delta, the first Optare-designed conventional bus, followed by the slightly inelegant (and sometimes troublesome) Vecta midibus


• 1989—Optare manufacturers the former MCW Metrorider design


• 1990—Optare joins with among others DAF & Bova in United Bus


• 1992—first production Spectra double decks, to a chic design that effectively made all other decker bodywork redundant


• 1993—A further MBO follows collapse of United Bus


• 1995—first production integral Excel single decks


• 1998—Optare launches its most influential and successful product, the Solo, successor to the Metrorider


• 2001—innovative and good looking Alero goes into production but early examples suffer from reliability issues


• 2000—North American Bus Industries buys Optare and collaborative working starts


• 2004—Optare launches full size Tempo


• 2005—a third MBO secures Optare’s future in the face of problems at NABI


• 2007—first production models of Versa arrive. Proven technology but some argue it's over-engineered and expensive


• 2008—Darwen Group chairman forms investment company Jamesstan to purchase Optare