India and China are future of the bus market

India and China will account for 50 percent of the new buses produced in the world by the year 2018, said Didier Ramoudt, president of Busworld International. He was speaking at the inauguration of the sixth edition of Busworld, held at the National Exhibition Centre in Goregaon, Mumbai today.

He said Busworld had come a long way since it first came to India and is only going to get better as India’s economy expands and demand for public transport services continues to increase.

Ramoudt made two key points when he said that its time to move from Euro 3 and 4 to Euro 6 engines in the interest of better air quality and health. He also said that private players are ready to invest in public transportation and that the only requirement is the need for a healthy competitive environment in which to operate.

Giving an idea of how bus production is expected to grow, he said the numbers have grown from 450,000 units way back in 2008 to 512,000 units in 2013 and will touch 664,000 units by the year 2018. This effectively is a 50 percent increase in bus production over a 7-8 year period.

According to Ramoudt, Busworld will now go to destinations in Latin America and South East Asia.

Busworld was started in Belgium in 1971. At the Goregaon event, several big names have taken part including Allison Transmission India, Automobile Corporation of Goa, MG Group, Michelin India, Subros, Harita and Scania. On display was Scania’s ethanol-operated low-floor bus that is being operated in Nagpur, and the MG Group which has displayed for the first time a 12-metre bus conceptualised and developed by the Group on  a MAN chassis.