First-quarter sales of new motorcoaches in the U.S. and Canada were 42 percent higher this year than during the same three months last year, National Bus Trader magazine reports.

Coach manufacturers said they sold a total of 464 new coaches during the quarter ended March 31, up from 326 units during the like period a year ago. The 2005 number is the best first-quarter sales since 2002 when new-coach sales totaled 596.

Four models from three manufacturers accounted for 89 percent of seated-coach sales during the first quarter of this year. No. 1, again, was the J4500 from MCI; No. 2 was MCI's D4500; No. 3 was the Van Hool 2045, and No. 4 was the Prevost H3-45.

Three other new-model coaches accounted for most of the remaining 11 percent of sales: the Van Hool 2145, the Prevost XLII, and the MCI D4000.

Perhaps the most remarkable figure to emerge from the National Bus Trader report was the percentage of new coaches sold with ZF AS-Tronic transmissions during the first quarter of this year. Nearly 40 percent of all new coaches were spec'd with the ZF automatic stick-shift transmission.

But, as National Bus Trader Editor Larry Plachno noted in the report, no ZFs appear to have been installed in conversion shells sold during the first quarter. That means the market share for the ZF among seated coaches was 48 percent during the initial three months of this year. A year ago, 4.3 percent of the coaches were delivered with ZFs.

Said Plachno: "Moving up to nearly half of the market in five quarters is noteworthy."

Plachno, who has been compiling and analyzing coach industry sales figures for 20 years, said there are five principal reasons for the improved sales this year:

· Increasing orders from transit agencies and other government units, including a large order for MCI commuter coaches from New York City Transit
· The improving economy
· Substantial improvements in travel and tourism
· Some stabilization in the used-coach market
· Increasing gasoline prices

"Although these figures are obviously optimistic, I would discourage anyone from running out and building another bus manufacturing plant," said Plachno, tongue firmly planted in cheek. He noted that while it appears new-coach orders are increasing from private operators, he doesn't foresee a scenario that would produce the kind of boom coach manufacturers enjoyed in the late 1990s when sales leaped off the charts.

Just over 82 percent of the new coaches sold during the first quarter of this year were seated models, leaving about 18 percent manufactured as shells destined to become conversion units. The number of conversion shells delivered during the first quarter this year rose to 83, from the 70 sold a year ago, but the market share for conversion coaches dropped 3 percentage points from last year.

The percentage of new coaches purchased by Canadian operators declined in the first quarter of this year. Canadian companies bought 6.5 percent of the 464 sold in the first quarter, meaning U.S. operators purchased 93.5 percent. A year ago, Canadian operators purchased 8.6 percent.

Sales of 40- and 41-foot coaches continue to be lackluster, accounting for only 3 percent of the total.

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