busnews.com.au April 2018 ABC^29then park itself – ready to go out
the next day. So from Singapore’s
perspective if you can save two
hours of driving time per bus then
productivity is great, and it also
solves their driver shortage problem.
It’s a really cool project!
ABC: So will you make regular
visits around the region to
check out how things are going,
or will you be mostly office
based? If visiting, with it be to
a pre-announced schedule,
or will you be like a ‘mystery
shopper’ and pop up randomly
and yell “Surprise!”?LD: [laughs] Absolutely! I will most
definitely be travelling around and
living a little bit out of a suitcase. I’ll
be doing a lot of joint visits initially
with our sales managers to the
different states and regions.
The benefit is that I already
know about 90-95 per cent of
our customers – but obviously to
formally go and meet with them
in this new role, as well as a couple
that I don’t know, is priority. It makes
it very easy having been in the
industry already for 10 years.ABC: Now, Volvo had that
double-decker on trial in
Melbourne about two years
ago. What’s happening in terms
of Volvo Bus double-decker
product developments?LD: At the recent Volvo Ocean
Race stopover in Hong Kong,
we launched our new Euro 6
double-deck B8L, which is our
3-axle double-deck that will be
available here in Australia. The
exciting thing with that project is
it actually started with input from
key double-deck customers in
Hong Kong and Singapore through
the development stages, via
interviewing and focus groups back
about five years ago, and then we
continued to touch base with them
throughout the entire design phase.
So it’s really been customer-focused.
And so far its fuel efficiency andperformance have been even better
than we expected, so we are thrilled
with that.
We expect the capacity of the
B8LtobesimilartotheB9TLwith
around90seats.Anditwillbe
greattoseewhatimpactthenewly
announced weight increases will
have – hoping it takes us back up
closertothe130wecarrywiththat
chassis in Asia.ABC:What’s your most popular
seller even still today?LD:Up until now it’s been the
B7RLE,whichwephasedoutlast
year and replaced with the new
B8RLEwithmorehorsepower–we
actually introduced a number of
new products last year. Regardless
of whether our customers want
Euro 5, Euro 6, articulated vehicles,
double decks, coaches or hybrids
wehavealloftheminourlinenow.ABC:So what is it that you, as
a person, uniquely bring to this
role? What is it that makes you
different that will help enhance
the general manager role you
have been appointed with?LD:I see it as being the experience
I gained during the past 10years,...all the other integral
elements around the
bus need to be set up
correctly first for ‘electric’
success.Above: ‘O’ marks
the spot. Downs’s
appointment
comes some 10
years after first
starting at Volvo.
Left: Exchanging
autographs?