WINNIPEG – A 5-year-old joint venture between Canadian bus manufacturer New Flyer Industries Inc. and Scottish bus maker Alexander Dennis Limited is ending.
The companies, which joined forces in 2012 to build medium-duty, low-floor 30- and 35-foot buses known as MiDi buses, announced that beginning in the fourth quarter of this year, manufacture of the buses will shift from New Flyer’s St. Cloud, Minn., plant to a new Alexander Dennis facility in Nappanee, Ind.
“The decision to terminate the joint venture and transition the product to Alexander Dennis was a mutual one,” Wayne Joseph, president of Transit Bus Business at New Flyer, said in a statement.
Joseph said the shift would allow New Flyer to expand the production capacity at its St. Cloud facility for its Xcelsior heavy-duty transit bus, while Alexander Dennis plans to combine manufacturing of the MiDi bus with its double-deck Enviro500 series bus in Nappanee.
He said that since 2014, 200 Buy America-compliant MiDi buses have been deployed in community shuttle service and to corporate campuses and universities throughout North America. Since the joint venture began, MiDi buses have been delivered to 22 operators in Canada and the United States.
With the termination of the joint venture, the manufacture, sales, marketing and aftermarket parts sales for the bus will be transitioned to Alexander Dennis.
New Flyer said it has completed manufacturing for all firm orders and will continue to support all commitments made to existing MiDi customers for care and product support.
“It has been a privilege to partner with such a respected player in the North American market and after this promising start, now is the right time for us to take full ownership of this product,” said Alexander Dennis CEO Colin Robertson.
“We are looking forward to this new chapter and to bringing the product to our own manufacturing facility in Nappanee.”
