Prime Minister Theresa May visits Alexander Dennis Limited to celebrate Mexico City deal.
Prime Minister (PM) Theresa May visited Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL) on Wednesday August 23 to announce financial exporting support for British businesses, and to celebrate a major deal for ADL to export low-emission double-deck buses to Mexico City in a bid to build a “truly global Britain.”
Speaking from ADL’s Guildford site, the PM stated that the deal was “an example of a great British success story and shows the UK is leading the way as a great, global trading nation.”
ADL – Britain’s biggest bus and coach manufacturer – first announced the £44m deal with Metrobús in October 2015, and is the company’s largest single deal from a sole customer in a foreign market.
The finance deal was supported by the Department for International Trade, whose UK Export Finance (UKEF) agency made the deal available as part of a wider £1.7bn programme of support for UK companies investing in overseas markets.
The deal has seen ADL export 90 red double-deck Enviro500 buses to Mexico City. The high-capacity buses will help reduce congestion and street level pollution on the City’s Paseo de la Reforma – the equivalent to The Mall in London – due to low-emission engines.
ADL Chief Executive, Colin Robertson, praised the deal and said: “It is hugely exciting to know that ADL’s signature red double-decker buses will soon be transporting Mexico City’s residents in style and comfort.
“As a global double-decker leader with fleets of our vehicles across the world, we see the positive impact these vehicles can have in improving the transport infrastructure, congestion and air quality in the world’s busiest cities.
“Our ability to offer finance from UK Export Finance in Mexican Pesos was a significant benefit to our buyer, helping us win this major contract.”
The deal also means that around 2,000 jobs will be created – including 320 at ADL’s Guildford site and around 1,000 in its Falkirk, Scotland, site.
“Any contract of this size is important for us to win. It allows us to continue to invest in people, processes and products which will help us secure the jobs of our 2,100 team members in the UK and many more in the supply chain, as well as to continue to develop our international customer base.”
