After four years, the Busworld exhibition was held again in Brussels. It had been held every two years for decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works and the 2021 edition was skipped.

The bus world has changed considerably in recent years and is facing major challenges. Public transport was faced with a sharp decline in transport figures, which have not returned to their previous levels even after the end of the pandemic. The sustainability of transport has accelerated and zero-emission buses have become the norm for scheduled bus orders. In addition, bus manufacturers encounter chain problems when purchasing parts and finding qualified and sufficient personnel. Competition from China is also becoming increasingly stronger.

The touring car sector has its own problems. For two years, virtually no new buses were purchased, while some buses were removed. The demand for new buses is now high, but there are not enough buses available, which has caused prices for second-hand cars to rise enormously.

The transition to the electric bus is taking place for public transport buses. However, for tour buses, it is happening much more slowly because the capacity of the batteries is still insufficient and there are not enough charging points. Hydrogen is being tested and is seen by some as the solution, but it will remain marginal for the time being at least. So there is still a role for the diesel engine, for which the Euro 7 standard is expected in 2024. This engine will also require adjustments to the bus “built around it”.

Busworld was held against this backdrop and people were eagerly awaiting the exhibitors who would come and what would be exhibited. The visitors were not disappointed. The number of exhibitors (526) and visitors (40,120) was even slightly higher than in 2019, which underlines the importance of Busworld.

If we compare the bus exhibitors with those of four years ago, it is striking that the major European exhibitors are Daimler Buses (formerly EvosBus) with the brands Mercedes-Benz and Setra, Neoman with MAN and Neoplan, IVECO, Scania, Solaris, Van Hool and VDL were present. Volvo was a big absentee. Both Volvo and Scania are closing their factories in Poland and focusing only on chassis production, for which they conclude contracts with bus builders. Scania was present with several cars with strange structures, but Volvo skipped this event. Alexander-Dennis from the United Kingdom was also not there. This company chose to present its new vehicles on its home market,

For the scheduled buses, the focus was on electric buses and several manufacturers exclusively proposed these zero-emission vehicles: Ebusco of course, but also Skoda, Safra, Caetano-Toyota and Ikarus. Once again several European newcomers were present with one or more electric buses, AM Mobility from Romania, Dancer from Lithuania, Arthur Bus from Germany and Mellor from the United Kingdom. And of course, other European manufacturers such as VDL, Mercedes, Scania, MAN and Van Hool had their electric scheduled buses at the fair.

Traditionally, the builders of large buses from Turkey were strongly represented: BMC, Güleryüz, Otokar, TEMSA and Anadolu-Isuzu had several buses, including electric ones. A newcomer was Habas, whose management comes from BMC.

MCV was present again from Egypt. This company has been active in Europe for some time, especially in the United Kingdom. Apparently, they are going to build buses for Volvo. A newcomer from Egypt was Geyushi, which had its buses unveiled by the Egyptian ambassador. From further afield there were JMC from India with electric buses and Marcopolo from Brazil.

The Chinese were well represented with their products: King Long, Yutong, Higer, Golden Dragon, BYD and Zhongtong each had their stand. And as we will see below, Chinese companies also play a major role in many other exhibitors’ electric buses. As usual, the Chinese were very busy viewing and photographing the details of other buses, but when viewing a Chinese bus they were immediately guided.

Of course, there were also the various conversions of small buses, mainly based on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and IVECO Daily, but also on Volkswagen, MAN or Ford. Turkish companies are very strong in this market, but companies from other, mainly Eastern European countries, were also present. Here too, electric vehicles were numerous, and the current challenge is to develop an electric vehicle with a sufficient range that remains within the weight standards of a passenger car.

There were officially 75 bus exhibitors, but with some flexibility we found 87. We briefly review them below in alphabetical order, with an emphasis on the companies we believe are the most interesting. It should also be noted that despite the often used reference to websites with QR codes, visitors were still able to return home with a decent trunk full of paper.