Sales of new motorcoaches during the first three of months of 2007 posted their 10th consecutive year-over-year quarterly increase, National Bus Trader magazine reports.

Coach manufacturers said they sold a total of 522 new coaches during the quarter ended March 31, up 6.5 percent from the 490 units sold during the same period a year ago. In the first quarter of 2005, 464 units were sold, while 326 coaches were delivered during the first quarter of 2004.

The 2007 number is the best first-quarter sales figure since 2002 when a total of 596 new coaches were sold.

National Bus Trader Editor Larry Plachno, who has been analyzing new coach sales for more than 20 years, said a number of factors figured into the first-quarter 07 gain. Sales of imported coaches Van Hool and Setra were up, purchases by Canadian operators were higher, and orders for conversion shells rebounded. At the same time, public sector sales slipped during the quarter.

Sales of Setras and Van Hools in the first quarter totaled 122 coaches, or 23.4 percent of the market, versus sales of 83 coaches, or 16.9 percent of the market, during the first quarter of last year.

Sales of conversion shells climbed to 75 coaches in the first quarter, compared to 64 units in the first quarter of last year. That compares to 83 sold in the first quarter of 2005, and 70 in 2004.

There were two other noteworthy items from the latest National Bus Trader sales report:

The ZF-AS Tronic transmission continues to grow in popularity among private passenger coach operators, capturing more than 56 percent of that market during the first quarter.

A new coach, the Temsa, is being added to the sales report. Built in Turkey, the 35-foot Temsa meets National Bus Traders criteria for being an "integral" bus. That is, its designed and built as a monocoque or unibody coach.

Operators continued to diversify their coach purchases during the first quarter of this year, with the top three models capturing 57.3 percent of the market. A year ago, the three top sellers held 63 percent of the market and two years ago the three best-selling seated coach models captured 80 percent of the market.

For this year's first quarter, the best selling coaches were the MCI J4500, the Van Hool C2045 and the MCI D4500. A year ago, the three top sellers were the J4500, the D4500 and the Prevost H3-45. Those same three coaches were the top selling trio in last years fourth quarter.

The seven best selling coaches in the first quarter, in order, were the J4500, C2045, D4500, H3-45, MCI D4505, Prevost X3-45 and Setra S417.

Making the biggest sales moves during the first quarter this year versus a year ago were the Van Hool C2045, which moved from fourth to second place, and the Prevost X3-45, which moved from seventh to sixth.

Canadian operators purchased 76 coaches during this years first quarter, representing 14.6 percent of total new coach sales. Canadian new coach sales amounted to 9.3 percent of the market for all of last year.

While ZF auto-stick transmissions were ordered by more than 56 percent of private-sector coach buyers during the first quarter, the transmissions overall share of the motorcoach market was 41.6 percent because public-sector and conversion-shell buyers continue to prefer the Allison transmission.

Questions about National Bus Traders sales reports should be directed to Larry Plachno at (815) 946-2341, or e-mail lplachno@busmag.com.