New partnership in Australia and New Zealand should strengthen Optare and Bonluck’s positions in those countries
According to Australasian Bus & Coach, local distributor for Chinese manufacturer Bonluck bus – Bus and Coach Sales Australasia (BCSA) – and Optare distributor, Bus Corp Oceania (BCO) have announced a mutually beneficial business link to provide national sales and service coverage for each other’s products.
As part of the agreement, BCO becomes the Bonluck dealer for New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand while BCSA becomes the dealer for Optare Queensland and Northern New South Wales, handling sales and service for the brand in both regions.
BCSA’s directors Rodd Hood and Athol McKinnon told the magazine that they are enthused by the tie-up with BCO and Optare, as well as BCO becoming the Bonluck dealer across Southern Australia.
“Optare is such an exciting and innovative brand with so many clever features, including their lightweight designs, and we are very enthusiastic about expanding Optare’s footprint in Queensland,” said Rodd.
“Athol and I have also been intimately involved over the past decade in the design of Bonluck buses to ensure they are built for the unique conditions and climate in Australia and NZ.
“We are pleased to be working closely with BCO to establish an extensive sales [and] aftersales support network for the Bonluck brand across Australia and NZ and handling Optare in Queensland and Northern NSW,” he added.
According to BCO General Manager Jason Pecotic, the appointment of BCSA as Optare’s dealer in Queensland and Northern NSW, and BCO’s sign-on as the Bonluck dealer across the rest of Australia and NZ, underlines the commitment to both Optare and Bonluck as serious players in the bus and coach markets down under.
“BCSA has a long history in the bus and coach industry with a strong reputation for customer service and is ideally situated at Yatala near Brisbane to service the major Brisbane and Gold Coast markets, as well as the larger Queensland and Northern NSW markets,” he said.
“BCSA’s extensive industry knowledge and experience will deliver peace of mind to all our Optare customers while BCSA’s in-house workshop is fitted with the most advanced equipment and staffed by the industry’s leading technicians.
“Between them, BCSA’s directors Rodd Hood and Athol McKinnon have over 80 years of experience in the bus and transport industry and they both have a passion for the bus and coach industry that is second to none, and that will be invaluable as Optare builds its base in Queensland and across Australia.
“BCSA’s vision is to be an innovative, leading supplier of quality passenger vehicles with its core values being quality, safety, reliability and affordability, which aligns perfectly with Optare.”
Since start-up in mid-2017, BCO has grown from its base at its head office in Melbourne and it says that it has seen a surge of interest in the Optare product since its debut at the Bus and Coach Expo on the Gold Coast last September.
“Just as BCO has expanded its operations in NSW, it’s clear that many Queensland fleets are also considering Optare purchases for their operations and the agreement with Rodd, Athol and the BCSA team will enable us to better service those customers,” said Jason.
“BCSA will have Optare demonstrator buses available from its Yatala operation for Queensland fleets to trial on their own routes enabling them to benchmark the Optare buses against their current vehicles to see the efficiency gains that can be made.”
