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In 2014, Solaris has reported a substantial increase of sales, maintaining its leadership in the Polish domestic market for the twelfth consecutive year. At the same time, the company strengthened its position in its export markets, delivering a record number of vehicles abroad.
Sales
Last year’s sales result was the highest in the company’s 19-year history. The number of vehicles sold by Solaris reached 1380. It thereby tops the sales record from 2013, when 1302 trams and buses were delivered to customers.
80% of the orders over the course of the past twelve months came from export markets (1110 units). In Poland, Solaris sold 280 vehicles, which allowed the manufacturer to remain unchallenged as the market leader in the low-floor city buses segment in the country.
With the delivery of 197 vehicles, Germany traditionally remained the most significant international market for Solaris. Among those delivered last year was the 10.000th bus produced by Solaris in Bolechowo. It was a Solaris Urbino 12 electric for Rheinbahn of Düsseldorf.
Further significant markets in the last twelve months were Bulgaria with 146 buses, Czech Republic with 128 units and Italy with 102 vehicles delivered.
Additionally, Solaris buses came to Turkey for the first time. Thanks to a winning tender, one hundred articulated Solaris Urbino 18 increased the fleet of ESHOT, the city operator in Izmir.
“This renewed sales record is the result of Solaris customers’ trust as well as the intensification of our sales activities on European markets. In the past year, we were actively involved both in countries where Solaris has been present for a long time and in areas where we had our debut, like in Turkey. We do not exclude the possibility of going outside of the European continent,” says Solange Olszewska, CEO of Solaris Bus & Coach.
Investment
As a result of the annually increasing sales volume, the Solaris board made a decision to expand its plant in Bolechowo near Poznan.
The construction, which is being undertaken by Eiffage Polska, includes the enlargement of the production hall by 7500 square meters. Additionally, office facilities will be extended by another 5000 square meters. The company’s entrance as well as internal roads will also be rebuilt.
“Thanks to this investment we will improve our production capacity and efficiency. The new production hall will be used for manufacturing the completely new generation of our light city buses,” says Dr Dariusz Michalak, Solaris Deputy CEO. “We are now producing 1400 vehicles per year and this number is to be increased in the coming years,” he adds.
The expansion started August 2014 is due to be completed in the second half of 2015. The 11 million EUR project will be partially financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
New products
The long-awaited new Solaris Urbino celebrated its world premiere in 2014. Its well-known predecessor had debuted in 2004. Exactly 10 years later, during IAA Commercial Vehicles exhibition in Hannover on 24th September, Solaris presented the new version of its city bus.
“The new Solaris Urbino is a completely new design. Despite being lighter, it is more robust. There is a host of newly developed features that improve all characteristics of the bus, while reliable, tried and tested components have been maintained. The new exterior design will be sure to turn heads, yet the new Urbino will continue to be an easily recognizable member of the Solaris product family,” says Dariusz Michalak about the new product.
Compared with the previous generation of the Urbino, there are even more pedestal-free seats in the new bus. The lower unladen weight of the new bus is expected to lower fuel consumption. Passengers will enjoy the bright interior, while drivers will find a more ergonomic cab.
The new design will enter the production line in the coming months. The plan for 2015 envisages that 300 units of the new bus will be sold. By 2016 the company is going to completely replace the current generation of the Solaris Urbino.
Electric buses
2014 was a success story for Solaris in terms of battery vehicles. The company gained 36 orders for electric buses altogether, coming from the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany and Sweden. Also won were the first tenders for electric buses on Solaris’s domestic market, in Ostro??ka, Jaworzno and Warsaw.
Many different charging systems will be used in the electric buses sold in 2014. In addition to plug-in, inductive and pantograph chargers already offered in previous years, Solaris added a completely new solution in the form of fuel cells as range extenders. Two articulated Urbino 18.75 electric fitted with this new system were purchased by Hochbahn of Hamburg.
Trams
In 2014, Solaris delivered more trams to Germany. Braunschweig City Transport had ordered eighteen Solaris Tramino in 2012 and 2013. The first three units were handed over to the customer at the end of last year, while the delivery of the remaining 15 is planned by the middle of 2015. At the same period, the Polish city of Olsztyn will get its first two of fifteen Tramino purchased by its local operator.
Plans for 2015
Solaris is going to keep up the pace in 2015. Besides launching the new Urbino, which will go into series production this year, the manufacturer is planning to reveal further new products. One of the most impressive endeavors is designing and building the first bi-articulated, 24-metre electric bus with fuel cells as range extender. Solaris engineers are cooperating with Universities of Technology in Warsaw and Poznań on this project which is co-funded by the National Centre for Research and Development within the InnoTech programme.
“We are working on a bi-articulated, 24-metre bus. The vehicle will be powered by electric motors. Batteries will be charged with the use of an outside source of energy or through fuel cells mounted on the bus. Not only the extremely advanced technology is extraordinary in this prototype, but also its unusual length. Our objective is to create a completely emission-free means of urban transport. This bus could compete with a tram thanks to its unusually big passenger capacity,” said Dr Dariusz Michalak, Deputy CEO of Solaris Bus & Coach.
Another premiere the company is going to announce this year is the first midibus in Solaris’s offer which could be used as a school bus. This new vehicle will be launched during Busworld 2015 exhibition in Kortrijk, Belgium.
Award
Solaris’s achievements on the market were noted by bodies of professionals as well as people not directly related to public transport vehicle manufacturing.
Vehicles with the green dachshund at the front were well recognized and appreciated. Among others, the new Solaris Urbino was awarded the Golden Medal of Transexpo 2014 exhibition in Kielce. Additionally, Solaris’s articulated battery bus won the International busplaner Sustainability Prize 2015.
Solange and Krzysztof Olszewski were honored as ‘People of Freedom’ in a unique plebiscite organized by Gazeta Wyborcza daily newspaper and TVN television network. The winners were chosen by readers and viewers who casted their votes by text message.
“This award is particularly meaningful to my husband who could not join me today because of his health. Nearly 20 years ago, he took a risk and decided to leave Germany to start everything from scratch here in Poland. We believed that thanks to our hard work we can achieve a lot. We wanted to contribute to a positive change in the Polish economy. We take this honour also as a reward for many Polish entrepreneurs who started businesses in the nineties and are successful in Poland and the whole world,” said Solange Olszewska after receiving the award.
Solange Olszewska was also chosen as ‘The Best Manager of 2014’. The prestigious title of was given by „Bloomberg Businessweek Polska” on the basis of a survey conducted among the most important managers in Poland.