How London busmaker Wrightbus is creating thousands of ‘future proof’ jobs – at a former cigarette factory

At a time when the corporate and investment worlds are busy evangelising over the potential for artificial intelligence, bus manufacturing may not be the first industry that comes to mind at the thought of cutting-edge technology.

But on the former site of a JTI Gallaher cigarette factory in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, a British company is rapidly developing world-first technology, creating thousands of skilled jobs and setting its sights on global expansion.

‘It’s buzzing here,’ chief executive Jean-Marc Gales says of the 100-acre site that saw 800 job losses when tobacco manufacturing ceased in 2017.

‘We’ve gone from producing eight buses a week early last year to 22 a week today – next year it will be 26, it’s a different factory and it’s buzzing with life.

‘We’re about to introduce a nightshift on the main assembly line, so we’ll be working day and night to decarbonise here.’

Vehicle veteran: Chief executive Jean-Mar Gales was appointed after chief executive roles at Citreon, Peugeot and Lotus, and served as chair of Williams Advanced Engineering

Wrightbus reborn

If you’ve travelled by bus or coach in the UK at any point over the last 75 years, there’s a reasonable chance you’ve used a vehicle manufactured by Wrightbus.

From its roots as a provider of buses to the Tyrone County Education Committee in the 1950s, Wrightbus was behind London’s iconic ‘bendy bus’ in 2001 and the ‘Boris bus’ a decade later.

The group was a key supplier to local authorities and providers across the UK throughout most of its existence – before crashing into insolvency in 2019.

Having then been saved under the ambitious ownership of entrepreneur Jo Bamford, Wrightbus is now under the leadership of a chief executive with an impressive record of turnaround stories.

Boss Gales was appointed last year on the back of success in the motor industry, including leading Peugeot and Lotus.

‘Wrightbus was in a much better situation than when I joined Lotus in 2014,’ laughs Gales.

‘Lotus had more losses than revenues per year when I joined. When I left and we sold the company to Geely three years later, the company had a double-digit EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation).

‘But what all those roles have in common is scaling a business, preparing it for future growth, and returning it to profit.’

Higher ceiling: The Ballymena factory expects to employ 2,000 workers by next year 

World firsts for zero emissions

A reborn Wrightbus has fuelled rapid expansion with the UK-based development of first-of-their-kind, zero-emission vehicles, prompting it to be named among Britain’s 100 fastest growing companies in this year’s Growth Index.

The group boasts the world’s first double-decker hydrogen bus, and its single-deck equivalent, as well as ‘the world’s most efficient double-deck electric open top’, the latter of which readers may recognise from the hundreds of tourist routes circling Britain’s cities.

‘Depending on the year, our annual growth rate has been between 50 and 80 per cent,’ says Gales.

‘We are now the number one zero-emission bus manufacturer in the UK and Europe – we are probably one of the fastest growing large manufacturing businesses in the UK.’

He adds that a sharp focus on cost management will see the group firmly profitable for 2024, with Wrightbus ‘targeting over half a billion of revenues this year, up from a record of around £300million last year’.

‘And we’ll be putting a substantial amount of that £500million back into research and development,’ Gales says.

Having built just 274 buses in 2021, Wrightbus expects to surpass 1,000 buses this year.

This has been made possible with extra hiring, with Wrightbus employee numbers expected to grow from 1,000 when Gales joined to more than 2,000 next year, from a current level of around 1,800.

‘We also have 50 apprentices, and we will be adding 80,’ notes the French executive, an engineer by trade.

‘And there’s no age limit for that, so anyone who wants a career change or new industry is welcome to join us.

‘These are future-proof, skilled jobs that we create in the UK – and every job here creates three jobs in the supply chain as we’re sourcing from 47 counties across the country.’

Futuristic: The group boasts the world’s first double and single deck hydrogen buses

Wrightbus bets on hydrogen

Of the buses sold by Wrightbus this year, 80 per cent are electric battery-powered, while hydrogen and traditional diesel engines make up 10 per cent each.

The firm expects the share of diesel vehicles to fall over time, as its customers gradually phase out the technology, and for the share of hydrogen vehicles to rise.

But why hydrogen?

‘Frankly, our electrical grids are limited – if we start from tomorrow everyone in the UK charging our electric cars and buses, we wouldn’t be able to put the kettle on for a cup of tea,’ Gales explains.

‘The grid is notoriously already overcharged. And hydrogen is obviously an excellent source of energy that can also be stored.’

The technology also allows for longer journeys than currently feasible under their electric equivalents.

Gales says: ‘On longer routes you absolutely cannot do electric – as soon as it goes over 200 miles a day, it’s becoming difficult. And I know that some people deny that.

‘But if you have a coach that goes from Birmingham to London and back again, for example, you can’t just stop and charge for two hours.

‘You can refuel within minutes with hydrogen, so for certain applications hydrogen is the only source that that we see – that’s why we are developing hydrogen coach that will come to the market in mid-2026.’

Eye on the horizon: Wrightbus is setting its sights on global expansion for its buses

International expansion

Just this week the group sold 46 hydrogen buses to a German transport provider in the city of Cottbus, Brandenburg.

It is not the first deal Wrightbus has made in the country, which is boosting trade with a €350million (£300million) subsidy scheme to support the production of renewable hydrogen.

And Wrightbus is setting its sights even further afield in efforts to drive future growth.

Gales says: ‘In the last few months, we’ve won five large European tenders.

‘We have a factory in Malaysia, which next year will be starting production for a bus for Hong Kong and Singapore.

‘We [previously] had a good market share in Hong Kong and Singapore, but we’re going to return to those markets with a new electrical double decker with three axels.

‘That will be a very strong future business for Wrightbus in that region, from which we will expand to Singapore to sell and build there. From there we can send to Australia and to New Zealand, which are also traditional places for our buses.’

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk