Public | |
Traded as | : NFI Grey Market: |
Industry |
Manufacturing Automotive |
Founded | 1930 | (as Western Auto and Truck Body Works Ltd)
Founder | John Coval |
Headquarters | Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
Area served
|
Canada, United States, Latin America, Brazil, Thailand |
Key people
|
Paul Soubry - CEO |
Products | Heavy-duty transit buses |
Subsidiaries |
Motor Coach Industries North American Bus Industries |
Website | www |
New Flyer Industries Inc. is a Canadian bus manufacturer in headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It also has factories in Crookston and St. Cloud, Minnesota, United States.
Flyer was founded by John Coval in 1930 as the Western Auto and Truck Body Works Ltd. Reflecting an increased focus on bus manufacturing, it changed its name in 1948 to Western Flyer Coach.
In the 1960s, the company further focused on the urban transit bus market. In 1971, the then-financially struggling Western Flyer was sold to the Manitoba Development Corporation, an agency of the Manitoba government, and renamed Flyer Industries Limited.
On July 15, 1986, Jan den Oudsten, a descendant of the family who created the Dutch company Den Oudsten Bussen BV, purchased Flyer Industries from the Manitoba government, changing its name to New Flyer Industries Limited. Den Oudsten Bussen B.V was a bus manufacturer in its native country, the Netherlands.
New Flyer subsequently introduced North America's first low-floor bus, delivering the D40LF to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1991. Also in 1995, the first ever North American low-floor articulated bus was introduced to Strathcona County Transit of Sherwood Park, Alberta. In 2001, the delivery of 6,300 low-floor buses represented close to half of the North American fleet, confirming New Flyer as the dominant player in the transit bus manufacturing industry in North America, a role previously held by the now defunct Flxible.
In March 2002, New Flyer was acquired by KPS Special Situations Fund in New York City. Also in the same year, Mr. den Oudsten retired as CEO of New Flyer Industries Ltd. and has recently been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the American Public Transportation Association.