Volvo 8900
| Volvo 8900 | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Volvo |
| Production | 2010–present |
| Assembly | |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | City bus and intercity bus |
| Body style | Single-decker intercity bus and city bus |
| Doors | 2-3 (1-2-0, 2-2-0, 1-2-1, 2-2-1, etc.) |
| Floor type |
|
| Chassis |
Volvo B7R, B9R, B8R (8900) B7RLE, B9RLE, B8RLE (8900LE) |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | Volvo D7E, D9B, D8K |
| Transmission | Volvo I-Shift |
| Dimensions | |
| Length |
|
| Width | 2.55 metres |
| Height | 3.30 metres |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | |
The Volvo 8900 is a single-decker city bus and intercity bus, first introduced in 2010 as a cross-breed successor to both the aluminium body 8500 and the stainless steel body 8700, taking advantage of both techniques. It is available both with 860 mm step-entrance floor and as the low-entry Volvo 8900LE.
Volvo got everybody by surprise when the Volvo 8500 built by Volvo Säffle in early May 2010 suddenly got a new front facelift, which led to speculations that something was going to happen to both the 8500 and 8700 models, being introduced in 2001 and 2002. Two months later Volvo officially announced the new 8900 model. The front was the same as the facelifted 8500, but the rest of the bus was new. The 8500 from Säffle would be out of production by summer 2011, while the Wrocław-built 8700 would be gone by new-year 2012.
As the B12B/B12BLE chassis also would be gone by 2012, and the B8R/B8RLE was still not ready, Volvo had to come up with a solution for the tri-axle versions. Because at that time B12B/B12BLE was the only tri-axle chassis offered for city and intercity buses. So with the introduction of 8900/8900LE, Volvo now offered B7RLE 6x2, B9RLE 6x2 and B9R 6x2. It was also offered on standard two-axle B7RLE, B7R and B9R. In the summer of 2013 the first B8R and B8RLE started to appear in low numbers, and from 2014 with Euro VI requirements, no 7s or 9s are offered anymore.
With two plants building the same models, Volvo balanced the production by building only on B7R/B7RLE in Poland, while the B9R/B9RLE and a few B7R/B7RLE were built in Sweden. This was also practical, as the majority of the market for the bigger engines was in Scandinavia. However, Volvo decided to close down the plant in Säffle by the summer of 2013, and all production of the model is now done in Poland.
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Wikipedia