Mercedes-Benz South Africa (MBSA) has intensified its focus on the local bus market with the launch of two new products.

Fuso Trucks South Africa (SA), wholly owned by MBSA’s German parent company, Daimler, has introduced the 30-seater Fuso Canter Bus, built on the Canter Lift truck chassis.

Fuso Trucks SA national sales manager Ziyad Gaba says local sales of the Japanese Fuso truck brand have grown 30% from 2011 to 2014.

However, South Africa is a tough market, and it is “difficult to keep the momentum, so we continue to look for new markets, and the bus market is one of these markets”.

The Canter Bus uses a new engine, the 4P10 twin camshaft, turbocharged and intercooled four-cylinder diesel engine. The power train is coupled to a Duonic six-speed, dual-clutch automated manual transmission, which means less maintenance, as well as lower maintenance and fuel costs, says Gaba.

Service intervals can be stretched up to 25 000 km in some applications.

Features include stabilisers for the front and rear, antilock brakes, electronic brakeforce distribution, disc brakes all-round, air-conditioning and central locking.

Gaba believes Fuso’s entry into the local small bus market will appeal to the staff, mine and school transport markets.

While Fuso also has a range of larger buses available, all built on truck chassis, the Canter is expected to be the volume seller, he notes.

“We have sold buses before, yes, but on an ad hoc, strategic basis. This our first real effort to enter the bus market,” says Gaba.

The chassis for the Fuso bus is assembled at MBSA’s East London plant.

MBSA has also launched the Mercedes-Benz OF 917 RF chassis, which has a raised-floor bus chassis with a front-mounted 170 hp engine.

The introduction of the chassis is driven by the fact that MBSA wants to offer a wider range of buses ¬– from small to large ¬– to its customers, explains MBSA Bus and Coach head Dirk Ansorge.

Produced at the Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) plant in the south eastern Indian city of Chennai, the “proper and strong” MidiBus chassis is ready for fitment of bus bodies seating 22 to 40 people, he notes.

Ansorge says the chassis will be available as a “competitive, affordable” product, supported by Mercedes-Benz quality and service levels.

He believes buses on this chassis will find use in the school, shuttle, smaller companies and church markets.

Ansorge says the new chassis spells Mercedes-Benz’s return to a segment in which it has not been active for a while.

The chassis is imported from India as a fully built-up unit.

It comes with shock absorbers, a six-speed manual gearbox, and front and rear leaf spring suspension.

The 4D34i inline diesel engine, with electronic diesel control, is the heart of the chassis, offering common rail injection with a peak pressure of 1 600 bar, an exhaust brake system that comes as standard fitment, as well as a twin-valve mechanism in both inlet and exhaust.