A NEW partnership with one of Australia’s largest automotive groups will see bus manufacturer Optare increase its presence on the continent.

Optare Group, based at Sherburn in Elmet, has appointed Bus Corp Oceania (BCO) as its new distributor for Optare products in Australia and New Zealand.

To strengthen the Optare presence and increase the expansion of the brand, BCO is supported technically, financially and logistically by one of Australia’s largest automotive groups.

Graham Belgum, President of Optare said: “Optare Solo, Versa and Tempo are very well proven products in the UK, European and Australasian markets, particularly attractive to operators because of their low deployment cost, style and fuel-efficient designs.

“We now also seek to introduce our light weight Metrocity range particularly adapted for heavy use urban environments.

“We will be working together with BCO to take the Optare brand to a new level in terms of supporting existing customers through further expansion of the sales and after-sales networks in the region, including the introduction of new products to meet the market needs.

“In addition to our UK manufactured products and in conjunction with our distributor we will be exploring ways of bringing some local assembly to Australia.”

BCO have appointed Jason Pecotic, with more than 25 years’ experience in the automotive industry, who will develop a team to focus on aftersales support for the Australia and New Zealand operations.

He said: “Our first round of staff recruitment has begun with our target to have a complete aftersales and spare parts division fully operational within eight weeks, from BCO’s Moorabbin premises in South East Melbourne.

Guy Pex will continue as sales and marketing manager across Australia and New Zealand for the Optare range, after previously working with Optare locally, while Shannon Taylor of Optare will continue to provide direct factory support as the local representative of the Optare Group within the region.

Mr Pecotic added: “It’s an exciting time to be joining the Optare family. The timing is perfect as Australia and New Zealand enter new rounds of operator contract tenders and government procurement negotiations.

“We believe the Optare product range will save millions of dollars towards operators costs.”