Prevost to end New York manufacturing operation

[Cait Sith]

Quote

Prevost to end New York manufacturing operation

April 24, 2022 | by Shandra Martinez |

Prevost will end manufacturing commuter coaches at its upstate New York plant by the end of the year.

The decision comes just three years after the company celebrated winning two major contracts with the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The Canadian manufacturer began assembling coaches at the Plattsburgh, New York, facility in late 2014, to move into the Buy America Act (BAA) market, which requires that coaches bought with federal dollars have at least half of the vehicles built in the United States. 

“Our traditional market is long-haul coaches. In New York, this was an opportunity for us in 2014 to develop something new. The commuter market is in between what we do and what Nova Bus normally does, so, this was an occasion to diversify our portfolio by doing commuter buses,” said Jérôme Cantin, Lead Legal Counsel for Volvo Group Canada’s Prevost Division.

Employees’ future

The 50 employees at the plant impacted by the decision will likely be offered positions with Nova Bus, a Volvo Group sister company, which will be taking over Prevost’s half of the facility. 

The two currently share the facility. Earlier this year, Nova Bus indicated it needed more space in the facility to keep up with its growing bus orders — especially for electric vehicles — in the U.S. transit market.

Prevost will continue to sell Canadian-manufactured commuter coaches in the U.S. that are not subject to BAA requirements, which have increased since 2014. The company has a factory near its headquarters in Quebec. 

“This had a major impact when we reviewed our decision to be in that BAA market,” Cantin said.

Just months before the pandemic in late 2019, Prevost won two MTA contracts for up to 330 buses, with a firm order of 307 buses to be delivered between 2020 and 2022, and options for 23 additional buses. The company announced plans increased staffing and double production of buses at the plant.

The contracts with North America’s largest transportation network was seen as a major ROI for its investment in the U.S. market.

“We initially opened our assembly line in Plattsburgh in 2014 after we received our first commuter bus contract from MTA. We are very proud as the buses for MTA will be built just a few hours drive from New York City. Our presence in this state is very important for Prevost and our talented employees in Plattsburgh are eager to demonstrate their skills once again to MTA,” said François Tremblay, Vice President and General Manager at Prevost, at the time.

Complete 700-bus order

The company plans to finish the last part of a 700-bus order by the end of the year for MTA. Aside from that contract that began in 2014, the current volume is very low.

“With the pandemic, we realized that some bids that we were expecting, either had been postponed or reduced in volume,” Cantin said.

Additionally, new bids are requesting electric products. Prevost recently launched an electrification program but doesn’t yet offer electric coaches. 

The company will continue to produce commuter units for transit authorities in Canada as well as state-funded entities that are not in the BAA market.

Source: https://www.busandmotorcoachnews.com/prevost-to-end-new-york-manufacturing-operation/
 

Well, this very much reopens the door for MCI to come back into the fold with the MTA once again, hopefully this happens.

[MysteriousBtrain]

It doesn't say Prevost is gonna completely shut down. It just says the NY plant is gonna close. What the article does mention though is Prevost will most likely merge with it's sister company Nova Bus. We could possibly have a case similar to MCI where Prevost is owned by Nova Bus and they begin manufacturing the Prevost coach models, but only time will tell.

Kinda was expecting CRTs sooner or later especially since MCI is pushing the new CRT LE CHARGE now.

[Cait Sith]

14 minutes ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

It doesn't say Prevost is gonna completely shut down. It just says the NY plant is gonna close. What the article does mention though is Prevost will most likely merge with it's sister company Nova Bus. We could possibly have a case similar to MCI where Prevost is owned by Nova Bus and they begin manufacturing the Prevost coach models, but only time will tell.

Kinda was expecting CRTs sooner or later especially since MCI is pushing the new CRT LE CHARGE now.

Never said it was going to shut down. They're basically ending manufacturing in the United States.

The gist of it now is that if the MTA wants to get those buses, they'll have to use their funds strictly to get them, no state or federal funds. Prevost will be doing business with companies that are not under the Buy America Act, as all of the Prevost manufacturering will be in Quebec.

They will also not merge. From a logistical standpoint, it makes more sense for Volvo to keep them separate from a profit standpoint. Nova is just going to take their space at the plant.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Cait Sith

[Via Garibaldi 8]

Well they definitely import parts. I notice the windows on the latest Prevosts say "Made in China", so at best, they are assembling the buses here. The complaints have been constant and quite a few riders have noted that they don't like the new buses and are trying to avoid them.