It's a tough year so far for those selling buses in the UK. Registrations were down 37.7% in Q1. Apparently. the SMMT say it's due to two years of high growth and statistically that looks to be correct.
I thought it might be larger buses suffering the most but no. Single deckers were down 15.5%, double deckers -22.1% and mini buses down a whopping 56%. Since 2021, mini buses have gone from two thirds to one third of the bus market.
A mini bus is up to 6 tonnes and has from 9 to 17 seats. Clearly they have fallen out of favour. Single decker buses are outselling them and double deckers aren't far off from doing the same. The suddenness is surprising.
So some of the larger falls are due to that change. It's nice to see Northern Ireland based Wrightbus doing well under trying circumstances. Alexander Dennis manufacturers locally with its electric buses using BYD batteries.
BYD is also doing well with electric double decker buses made in China. Yutong uses a local company for final assembly of its buses, the main structure made in China.
Data source: SMMT. Photos Wrightbus & Alexander Dennis.
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