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Solaris has ended its 2013 financial year with a new record result, maintaining its leadership in the Polish domestic market for the eleventh consecutive year. At the same time, the company strengthened its position in its export markets, delivering a record number of vehicles abroad.
Sales
The number of vehicles sold by Solaris reached 1302, the highest in the company’s 18-year history. This tops the sales record from 2011, when it delivered 1205 trams and buses. Over the course of the past twelve months Solaris maintained its leadership in the Polish domestic market and strengthened its position in export markets.
In 2013, Solaris sold 292 buses in Poland. 251 of these vehicles were low-floor city buses, 36 Trollino trolleybuses and 5 InterUrbino intercity buses. The company also enlarged its list of customers by selling buses to three new Polish cities (K?trzyn, Gorlice and Przemy?l).
With the market share reaching 53% in 2013, Solaris remained unchallenged as the market leader in the key city bus segment in Poland.
The number of buses sold abroad reached 1010, which was the best result in the company’s history. With the delivery of 210 vehicles, Germany remained the most significant international market for Solaris. Last year, the company delivered its 2000th bus there, maintaining its position as the biggest non-German supplier of buses in the country.
A further significant market was Serbia with 200 new Solaris articulated buses delivered to Belgrade.
With the delivery of 116 Solaris city and intercity buses to Israel, bought by United Bus Services from Nazareth, and 100 to Turkey, the company increased the number of countries where its buses operate to 28.
"We owe last year’s success to our customers who rely on us and return year after year to maintain this fruitful cooperation. As we can observe, the majority of orders were placed by our longtime customers. It proves the quality of our products and after-sales service", says Solange Olszewska, CEO of Solaris Bus & Coach.
Trams
One of the company’s biggest successes last year was the delivery of five low-floor trams to Jena. They were the first Polish-built trams delivered to Germany.
During TRAKO International Railway Fair in Gdańsk, the Tramino Jena was awarded the Jan Podoski Prize by the Polish City Transport Chamber.
The second foreign contract for the delivery of 18 Solaris trams comes from Braunschweig and will be completed in 2014.
New products
Last year Solaris presented buses with Euro 6 engines. The company has been well prepared for this change and offers a full range of products meeting the new European emission standard which came into force with the beginning of 2014.
A new product presented in 2013 was an electric bus with an innovative battery charging system. The new solution consists of a roof-mounted current collector and a charging plate mounted above the road. It provides fast automatic battery charging. The system was patented by Solaris and it was awarded with the Gold Medal during Transexpo exhibition in Kielce, Poland.
The fully electric battery bus has already found its first customers abroad. In 2013, a Solaris 8.9 LE electric was delivered to Klagenfurt. Five inductively charged buses were sold to Braunschweig. This delivery of one standard-length and four articulated battery buses will be completed this year. Furthers orders came from Düsseldorf, which bought two electric buses, and V?ster?s in Sweden, where one unit was sold. This year the company will also deliver two electric articulated buses to Hamburg. The vehicles will be additionally equipped with hydrogen fuel cells to extend their operating range.
"We are very optimistic about the constantly increasing market demand for electric buses. It had a direct impact on our business results in 2013. This year is even more promising. I think that growth in the e-bus market will accelerate strongly", predicts Solange Olszewska.
In 2014, Solaris is going to reveal several new products. One of the most awaited ones will certainly be the new Solaris Urbino, the presentation of which will take place during this year’s IAA Commercial Vehicles in Hannover. The new bus, distinguished by its lighter construction with refreshed design, will be gradually introduced to the company’s offer, replacing the previous generation of buses. Solaris is also going to add a completely new vehicle to its product range.
"The year 2013 was very successful for our company. At the moment, we are working hard to maintain this level of orders for the coming years. Forecasts, based on the number of orders in hand, look optimistic. This year we will complete the delivery of 100 buses to Izmir and over the course of coming three years we will build 300 buses for Riga. We will however concentrate not only on big contracts – we value every client, irrespective of number of buses they order", says Solange Olszewska.
Another milestone in the company’s history will be achieved in the coming weeks when the 10000th Solaris leaves the factory in Bolechowo.