Solaris notes record sales in 2013

Solaris Bus & Coach, Poland’s top producer of city buses, sold a combined total of 1,302 bus, trolleybus and tram units in 2013. A total of 1,010 units were sold abroad (77.6 percent), the company announced in a statement, Thursday. Solaris currently holds 53 percent of the Polish market, with its share expected to rise over the coming years. “Record sales last year was the effect of the trust we have with our long-term clients,” Solaris CEO Solange Olszewska said in the statement, cited by ISBnews. “Most of the contracts were undertaken in cities where Solaris vehicles are already present,” she added. Domestically, Solaris managed to sell 292 vehicles, including 251 low-floor Urbino bus units, 36 Trollino trolleybuses and 5 InterUrbino regional buses. Abroad, Germany was Solaris’s biggest market, with 210 units going to Poland’s western neighbor. Solaris is third in terms of market share in Germany. Since it started business in 1996, Solaris has produced over 10,000 vehicles, which run in 28 countries in over 500 urban agglomerations. /jb