VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) has launched its new-generation Eicher Skyline Pro Series of light duty buses in Pune. The new buses aim to meet the demands of the emerging premium market segment providing enhanced passenger safety and comfort, better drivability, superior aesthetics and build quality and best-in-class fuel efficiency.

During the launch function, Shyam Maller, senior vice-president (Sales, Marketing and Aftermarket), VECV, said, "The new-generation Eicher Skyline Pro Series buses have been developed as per our philosophy of relevant modernization to continuously improve transportation efficiency in India and developing world thereby reducing cost of people transportation and increased productivity."

Eicher Skyline Pro buses are available in school, staff and tourist variants with best-in-class features and seating capacity ranging from 36 to 60 high headrest and school bus seats as per the segment requirement. These buses have been equipped with the proven Eicher E-483 engine known for its low maintenance and good fuel efficiency. The longer length and higher width of the buses offer best of seating layout in the saloon area, higher seat pitch for more leg space and a wider gangway. These buses are provided with parabolic suspension and radial tyres for higher passenger and driver comfort and longer tyre life. The buses have the highest seat width on offering along with superior ergonomics for a comfortable travel experience which is the main requirement for staff and tourist operation.

Along with the 36 features, Eicher Skyline Pro school buses offer individual retractable seatbelts on all the seats for the safety of children. The lowest first step and the floor height are also a unique offering for the front engine buses.

The Eicher Skyline Pro buses have been a result of synergistic working between the JV partners, utilizing the global expertise of Volvo and frugal engineering competence of Eicher.

Eicher Pro series range of Trucks and Buses has involved an investment of 3 million hours of engineering effort, 7.7 million kilometres of testing and 50,000 hours of engine development. The product range is being manufactured at Eicher's state-of-the-art bus body plant at Baggad (Indore-MP), the first plant in India with Robotic painting for bus providing high gloss retention for a long time, unique shell drop concept and computerized electrical system, checking rig, shower test, and dedicated test track to ensure a top quality product.

The Eicher Pro series range has undergone very stringent and gruelling test protocols to ensure superior up-time. Extensive testing has been done not only in the labs but also with some of the customers in real world conditions.