The Plaxton Premiere, Plaxton Excalibur and Plaxton Prima were closely related designs of

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

bodywork built by

Plaxton Plaxton is an English builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Eastfield, North Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton, it became a subsidiary of Alexander Dennis in May 2007. In 2019, the maker was acqui ...

Variants

Premiere

Internally codenamed 'Project X' during its development, the Plaxton Premiere was revealed in August 1991 as the successor to Plaxton's versatile Paramount body, later receiving official launches on the Volvo B12 chassis at the 1991 Bus and Coach Show at both the

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rail ...

in Birmingham and the 1991 European Bus and Touring Coach Fair in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

. At launch, the Premiere was available for bodying on the

Volvo B10M The Volvo B10M is a mid-engine design, mid-engined city bus and coach (bus), coach chassis manufactured by Volvo Buses, Volvo between 1978 and 2003. It succeeded the Volvo B58, B58 and was equipped with the same 9.6-litre horizontally mounted Vo ...

Volvo B12B The Volvo B12B was a rear-engined coach and intercity bus chassis built by Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered ...

, Scania K93 and K113, and

Dennis Javelin The Dennis Javelin (later known as the Alexander Dennis Javelin) was an underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis manufactured by Dennis and later Alexander Dennis. It was unveiled in 1986 and acted more or less as a modern replacement for the d ...

coach chassis, with all but the then-new Volvo B12 previously offered for the Paramount; Premieres also began to be bodied on the DAF SB3000 chassis in 1995. The Premiere was built with a welded steel frame, with galvanised steel panels on the top half of the body and lower panels manufactured through

resin transfer moulding A resin is a solid or highly viscous liquid that can be converted into a polymer. Resins may be biological or synthetic in origin, but are typically harvested from plants. Resins are mixtures of organic compounds, predominantly terpenes. Commo ...

. A more rounded front end when compared to the Paramount was a notable feature of the new Premiere which, could be bodied at heights of either or , had a seating capacity for 53

recliner A recliner is an armchair or sofa that reclines when the occupant lowers the chair's back and raises its front. It has a backrest that can be tilted back, and often a footrest that may be extended by means of a lever on the side of the chair, o ...

seats, and was fitted with tinted double-glazed windows, updated heating as well as optional air conditioning, as well as improved plug doors. Plaxton claimed that the Premiere and Excalibur had the lowest drag coefficient of any coach produced in the United Kingdom at the time. Volvo launched an SE variant of its B10M chassis in 1995, featuring a longer wheelbase and shorter rear overhang, changes which were achieved via the installation of a side-mounted radiator and intercooler as well as the relocation of the fuel tank above the rear axle. Plaxton's Premiere 350 was the launch vehicle for this new chassis in the United Kingdom, achieving nearly of luggage space in the front luggage lockers while also seeing a reduction in rear overhang.

Expressliner II

The Expressliner II was launched in August 1992 as a variant of the Premiere 350 built to

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

specification on the Volvo B10M and Dennis Javelin chassis, serving as the second iteration of the Expressliner concept that was first applied to Paramount 350-bodied B10Ms. These coaches were sold or leased through National Expressliners Ltd, a joint venture between Plaxton and National Express that intended to form a uniform fleet of Plaxton-bodied National Express coaches across the United Kingdom. Features adapted for the Expressliner II included flipdot or rollblind destination equipment, a three-piece windscreen and heavy-duty pantograph wipers, while premium 'Rapide' models featured waste disposal bins, a servery area and a chemical toilet. Each coach was also equipped with reclining seats trimmed with the National Express moquette design.

Premiere Interurban

The Premiere Interurban was a variant of the Premiere 320 designed for medium-distance express coach services. A handful of Premiere Interurbans were also built as 71-seat articulated coaches on Volvo B10MA chassis, the first such coaches to be built in Britain. These were exclusively received by subsidiaries of the

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom. Stagecoach was originally founded in 1976 as ''Gloagtrotter'', a recreational vehicle and minibus hire business. Dur ...

on express services, with ten delivered during 1996 initially split to Stagecoach East Midland for use on the 909 service between

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

, Stagecoach Fife for use on regional express services, and

Stagecoach Ribble Stagecoach North West was a major bus operator in North West England. The company was a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group, and had its origins in the purchase of Cumberland Motor Services in 1987 and Ribble Motor Services in 1988 from the N ...

for use on the

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

X43 and Manchester to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

X61 services.

Excalibur

The Plaxton Excalibur was launched at the same time as the Premiere in 1991, being marketed as a premium version of the Premiere 350. Although it shared most of the same components and chassis configuration as the Premiere, The design of the Excalibur differed by having a distinctive 'swept-back' fascia featuring a raked windscreen, and internally, the Excalibur featured a plug door as standard, as well as including reclining seats with optional drop-down armrests and luggage hooks, enclosed luggage racks and pull-down sunblinds as standard, as well as a

Blaupunkt Blaupunkt GmbH () was a German manufacturer, producing mostly car-audio gear and other electronic equipment. Owned by Robert Bosch GmbH from 1933 until 1 March 2009, it was sold to Aurelius AG of Germany. It filed for bankruptcy in late 2015 ...

speaker system. The Excalibur was also bodied on the long-wheelbase Volvo B10M SE variant, allowing for an underfloor luggage compartment, accessible by lockers on both sides of the coach, to be equipped as standard when compared to conventional B10Ms.

Prestige

The Plaxton Prestige was a

left-hand drive Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes called the ' ...

export version of the Excalibur that was built on a tri-axle variant of the Volvo B12 chassis, uniquely utilising a 'lowcab' design that enabled the driver's cab to be lower than on standard B12s. The body and chassis combination was briefly marketed by Volvo towards French luxury coach operators, competing against established designs by

Jonckheere Jonckheere was a Belgian motor Coach (vehicle), coach and bus builder, founded in 1881 by Henri Jonckheere in Roeselare. History In 1881, Henri Jonckheere began building horse-drawn carriages in the village of Beveren, near Roeselare in the ...

and

Van Hool Van Hool NV () was a Belgium, Belgian coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, Coach (bus), coaches, trolleybuses, and Semi-trailer, trailers. Most of the buses and coaches were built entirely by Van Hool, with engines and axles sourced from C ...

. The name was later revived by Plaxton for the Northern Counties Paladin LF

low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a l ...

when production was moved from Northern Counties'

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

factory to Plaxton's

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

factory.

Prima

The Plaxton Prima was launched in November 1997 at the Coach & Bus 97 expo on Volvo's new B7R chassis, which intended to serve as a fuel-efficient replacement of the B10M. The Prima was marketed as a budget version of the Premiere for price-conscious operators: although it retained the same design and framework as the Premiere, standard features of the Prima included 57 seatbelted and reclining seats with fixed footrests, ribbed cord interior trim, solid rubber flooring and an overhead luggage rack design reused from the Paramount. As standard, the Prima-bodied B7R was equipped with Volvo's D7B260 engine with the option for either a ZF S6-85 six-speed synchromesh manual or ZF 4HP500 automatic gearbox; the Prima was later offered on both the DAF SB3000 and Dennis Javelin chassis, though the majority of operators took delivery of B7Rs.

Operators

Premiere

Early major customers for the Plaxton Premiere upon its 1991 launch were coach holidays operators and popular Paramount customers

Wallace Arnold Wallace Arnold was one of the UK's largest holiday motorcoach tour operators. History Wallace Arnold was founded in 1912 and was named after two of its founders Wallace Cunningham and Arnold Crowe. In 1926, the Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust was ...

and

Shearings Shearings (legally Shearings Travel Limited) is a Coach (bus), coach tour operator, part of the Leger Holidays, Leger Shearings Group, based in the United Kingdom. The tour operator brand specialises in holidays including escorted tours, unesco ...

. Wallace Arnold ordered 50 Premieres on Volvo B10M chassis, while Shearings ordered 30 Premiere 3200s on Scania K93 chassis as well as ten air-conditioned Premiere 3500s on Volvo B10M chassis for use on coach tours to

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

. These operators continued to take delivery of further Premieres throughout its production run. The

was a highly popular customer of the Premiere Interurban, choosing to standardise on it as its standard coach body throughout the 1990s; a two-year contract placed in August 1992 worth £7.5 million () to supply 150 of the type, 100 on Volvo B10M and the remaining 50 on Dennis Javelin chassis, was Plaxton's biggest ever order during a time of financial difficulties for the manufacturer. Many Premiere Interurbans were delivered to Stagecoach's Scottish subsidiaries, including A1 Service,

Bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous passerine birds in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. Bluebirds lay an ...

, and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

. Other operators who purchased conventional Premieres for express coach services included

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink (Northern Ireland), Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transpor ...

, who took delivery of 80 on Volvo B10M chassis for use on its Goldliner network between 1994 and 1996,

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Republic of Ireland, Ireland, with the exception of Dublin, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidiary of C ...

, who purchased 59 on Volvo B10M chassis between 1996 and 1997, Cambridge Coach Services,

First Eastern Counties First Bus East of England is a bus operator that provides services in Norfolk and Suffolk in eastern England; it is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. It has five depots in operating areas spread out across East Anglia: Norwich, Ipswich, Great Yarmou ...

, First Kelvin, and City of Oxford Motor Services, who took delivery of six on Dennis Javelin chassis in 1992 for use on the Oxford to London 190 service. National Express contractors who took delivery of Expressliner II-specification Premieres included

East Yorkshire Motor Services East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services. History ...

, West Midlands Travel's Central Coachways arm,

Yorkshire Traction Yorkshire Traction was a bus operator in South Yorkshire, South and West Yorkshire with subsidiaries in other areas that operated from 1902 until 2005. History In March 1902 the Barnsley & District Electric Traction Company Limited was forme ...

, Premier Travel of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Wessex Coaches of

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

and Selwyns Travel of

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and Runcorn Docks, cargo port in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England. Runcorn is on the south bank of the River Mersey, where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. It is upstream from the port of Live ...

Excalibur

Wallace Arnold and Shearings also took delivery of Plaxton Excaliburs, with Wallace Arnold ordering ten Excalibur 3500s on Volvo B10M chassis prior to launch in 1991; an additional Excalibur 3500 from this order was built to high specification as the team coach for Leeds United F.C., being fitted out leather seating, bunk beds, partitions, tables and a kitchenette.

Prima

In December 1997,

Arriva Arriva Ltd. is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England. The company was originally established on 24 October 1938 as T Cowie Ltd. Initially focused on the sale of motorcycles, it relaunched shortl ...

ordered eighteen Plaxton Prima Interurban bodied DAF SB3000s for use on

Green Line Coaches Green Line is a long standing commuter coach brand in the Home counties of England. The trademark is owned by Arriva, with services operated by Arriva Herts & Essex. Green Line had its origin in the network of coach services established by the ...

services, with ten being delivered to Arriva The Shires and the remaining eight delivered to Maidstone & District. Coaching operators of the Prima included Simonds Coach & Travel, who purchased a Prima on Volvo B7R chassis during 2000.

References

External links

* {{Plaxton

Premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

Step-entrance buses Vehicles introduced in 1991