Designline Olympus Gas-Electric hybrid bus in Newcastle U - when the operating firm in that city lost the contract for this link service , it took its buses with it. Will the rest of these iconic buses disappear here too in Christchurch, no chance to replace them with Designline gone ?
When half built buses started appearing in the yards of local bus operating companies, some still in wrap, all indicators were that bus maker Designline, a local success ten years ago, was finally about to crash and burn after a long and bumpy ride down. Creditors owed more than $1.8 million between them, made application a couple of weeks back, and all efforts to find solution gone, today the High Court of New Zealand appointed the Official Assignee as liquidator of Designline. According to a news report Justice Venning said Designline was "clearly insolvent. While it was paying current debts it was not paying past obligations".
It is a sad end to what has long been one of Canterbury's industrial success stories, the way that over the last 25 years Ashburton bus builder John Turton built up an assembly operation in a country town to become the country's biggest bus maker. This included Turton's early innovations in hybrid technology and unique designs that attracted international interest as well as scattered sales to diverse points of the globe. Any who catches Christchurch buses will know how high the quality of workmanship in the Designline buses and how relatively few rattles and squeaks occur, even in fleet models ten years old. And whether the iconic gas turbine hybrid Shuttle buses in Christchurch achieved full technical effectiveness or not, their distinctive styling have added a light spirit to the city and carry around a million passengers (free) at a fraction of the cost of similar light rail systems overseas. [So much I believe their timeless benevolent roly poly shape should be retained and two or three overlapping shuttle routes created, each route in different bright colour. Twice as effective and fast as any tram system!]
For reasons not clear Turton had strong ambitions to break into the United States market, which has very high firewalls requiring a high component of local involvement. To achieve this Turton sold control of Designline in 2006 to the Glosson family of North Carolina, who embarked on a large expansion setting up a factory capable of building 300 buses a year in Charlotte, North Carolina and shifting Designline to a new base at Rolleston, 20km south of Christchurch. Turton remained as a director. Both here and overseas the path of Designline has not been easy or clear for the last few years.
A quality product was not enough to save Designline
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