ORLANDO, Fla. Temsa, the Turkish bus builder, and its North American distributor, Trident, announced the first delivery of Trident coaches to a U.S. customer.

The announcement came at the conclusion of UMA Motorcoach Expo here last month.

Cardinal Buses of Middlebury, Ind., has taken delivery of two Temsa TS 35 coaches.

The 38-seat Temsas are equipped with Caterpillar C9 engines, Cat CX28 transmissions and REI entertainment systems with four monitors and a DVD player.

Cardinal plans to utilize the Temsa TS 35 coaches to service all segments of its customer base as passenger capacity dictates.

Cardinal Buses is an 85-year-old coach operator and its president, Dan Shoup, is widely known in the industry for his technical and mechanical expertise. Cardinal is a UMA 20 Group member.

In its announcement, Temsa said it has a production and delivery schedule of 70 U.S. units between now and July.

The bus builder said many of its customers are interested in the 35-foot coach because of its maneuverability in heavy urban areas and because of increased customer demands for a smaller coach.

"Customers do not always need or require a 45-foot, 57-passenger product, but they do require all of the same luxury appointments that come with such a product. The Temsa TS 35 offers them just that," said Trident marketing director Brian Mumaw.

Temsa and Trident have set up a national parts center in Atlanta, and say they have enough inventory to service the first six months of deliveries.

A parts catalog is available now, with online capability coming in March.

A service network is being established with the first location coming in Hawthorne, Calif., and future expansions to be completed within 12 months in New Jersey, Texas and Indiana.