Industry | Bus manufacturing |
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Founded | 1998 |
Headquarters | Burleigh |
Owner | Joe & Tony Calabro |
Parent | Transit Australia Group |
Website | www.bustech.net.au |
Bustech is an Australian bus manufacturer based on the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Bustech was founded in 1998 by the proprietors of Surfside Buslines, Joe and Tony Calabro, in the Gold Coast suburb of Ernest, very close to Surfside's depot. It initially bodied buses on Mercedes-Benz and Volvo chassis.
Most of the early buses were built for the Calabro operations Surfside, Busabout and Hawkesbury Valley. Following the collapse of the Clifford Corporation, Bustech was successful in winning orders from a variety of operators, primarily in Queensland and New South Wales. In October 2004 Bustech moved to a new factory in Calabro Way, West Burleigh.
In 2008 Bustech became part of the Transit Australia Group as part of a restructuring of the Calabro operations.
In 2008 Bustech launched its first integral bus (both chassis and body), the 10.5 metre MDi. This was followed by the 12.5 metre XDi and in July 2011 by the 12.5 metre CDi double decker, the first double deck citybus built for Australian operation since 1973.
In November 2009 Bustech completed its 1,000th bus.
In July 2015, in collaboration with Swinburne University of Technology, the Automotive Cooperative Research Centre (AutoCRC) and the Malaysian Automotive Institute, Bustech unveiled its first electric bus to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia. Bustech has already signed a AUD$170 million contract to manufacture electric buses for the Malaysian government in late 2014.
Currently, Bustech produces six bus models:
Both the MDi and XDi were also available with Caterpillar C7 engines. However, as they have ceased production of highway engines, the vehicles can now only be specified with Cummins engines.
The VST was also available with Volvo B12BLE engine however it ceased production. The Volvo B7RLE engine is used instead on VST's from 2011.