The Volvo B6 was a engined

midibus A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between and long. While used in many parts of the world, the mi ...

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

manufactured by

Volvo The Volvo Group (; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distribution and sale of truck ...

between 1991 and 1999. It was also available as the low-entry Volvo B6LE.

History

In the United Kingdom, the B6 competed in the midibus market with the

Dennis Dart The Dennis Dart is a Rear-engine design, rear-engined single-decker bus, single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis Specialist Vehicles, Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a ...

, and with the

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

10.xxx HOCL and 12.xxx HOCL/ 12.xxx HOCL-NL throughout Europe. When launched in 1991,Volvo unveils B6R midi
''

Commercial Motor ''Commercial Motor'' is a weekly magazine serving the road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation of ...

'' 17 October 1991 it was presented as being available in several different lengths; (''B6-36''), 9.0 metres (''B6-41''), 9.9 metres (''B6-50'') and a 9.1-metre coach version (''B6-45''). For LHD markets it was available with a low-entry floor, while the RHD markets had to wait until 1995 before this option became available. Most B6’s were built for the UK market, but 61 were exported to Hong Kong and some to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. They were also sold in mainland Europe, both in bus and in coach versions. When launched in the UK, it was marketed as the B6R, but this name would later only be used in the Asia-Pacific region.

Volvo B6

The initial pre-production series of around 30 (or more)

were manufactured by Volvo subsidiary Steyr Bus GmbH in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria. This would however not be the case with the production series, as Volvo moved it to Scotland.Goodnight to Vienna for B6
''Commercial Motor'' 15 October 1992 Most of the pre-production units were built as coaches. Only nine of these units were delivered in the United Kingdom.
Bus Lists on the Web In March 1993, serial production of the B6 started up at Volvo's brand new bus chassis plant in Irvine, Scotland.Volvo opens bus lines in Irvine
''Commercial Motor'' 1 April 1993 The ''B6-50'' length was instantly popular. The short-wheelbase ''B6-36'' sold a few from the start, but customers soon chose the ''B6-41'' instead. The ''B6-45'' midicoach suffered from disappointingly low sales in the UK - by 1995, when the RHD version was withdrawn from sale, only fourteen had been built. The last one being delivered to the Russian embassy in 1998, being unsold since 1995. No further RHD B6-45s were ever built. For the RHD markets also the entire step-entrance B6 lineup was discontinued in 1997, while the LHD version was available until the introduction of the B6BLE in 1999. The step-entrance B6 never received a proper successor. Between 1993 and 1997 a total of 627 B6s were delivered in the UK. The B6 were labelled as the Volvo B6R in the Asia-Pacific region. In

Blue Ribbon Blue ribbons are typically a symbol of high quality. The association comes from The Blue Riband, a prize awarded for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by passenger liners and, prior to that from Order of the Holy Spirit#Cordon Bleu, Cord ...

purchased five, Southtrans four and

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City Transport two. Citybus of Hong Kong took delivery of one

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bodied B6R."Hong Kong Buses: Citybus Limited" ''Fleetline'' issue 248 May 1997

Volvo B6LE

The B6LE was initially only available as left-hand drive, but in 1995 it also became available as right-hand drive, to compete with the

Dennis Dart SLF The Dennis Dart is a rear-engined single-decker midibus chassis that was introduced by Dennis of Guildford, England, in 1989, replacing the Dennis Domino. Initially built as a high-floor design, in 1996 the low-floor second generation Denn ...

. However, after sales proved promising, the B6LE completely replaced the B6 in some markets in 1997 before it was itself replaced by the B6BLE in 1999. A total of 394 B6LEs were produced for the UK between 1995 and 1999; this includes two modified vehicles used as the testbed for the then-upcoming B6BLE. The B6LE were labelled as the Volvo B6RLE in the Asia-Pacific region. In

, Brisbane Transport purchased two B6RLE. Three were purchased by National Bus Company in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

.CDC Group NSW - Hunter Valley Buses
Australian Bus Fleet Lists Citybus (Hong Kong) took delivery of 20

Plaxton Pointer The Plaxton Pointer (originally known as the Reeve Burgess Pointer, and later as the TransBus Pointer and Alexander Dennis Pointer) is a single-deck midibus body that was manufactured between 1991 and 2006, predominantly on the Dennis Dart chas ...

bodied B6LEs, with 10 being single door and 10 being double doors. There’s also 10 bodied with ALX200 that had overhead luggage racks and 30 B6LE bodied with the local Jit Luen bodywork.

Engines

TD63, 5478 cc, in-line 6 cyl. turbodiesel (1991-1995) * TD63E - 132 kW (180 bhp), 520 Nm, Euro I * TD63ES - 154 kW (210 bhp), Euro I D6A, 5478 cc, in-line 6 cyl. turbodiesel (1995-1999) * D6A180 - 132 kW (180 bhp), 550 Nm, Euro II * D6A210 - 154 kW (210 bhp), 700 Nm, Euro II

References

External links

* * {{Volvo Buses, state=collapsed Vehicles introduced in 1991 B06 Low-entry buses Step-entrance buses Midibuses Bus chassis