Popular Australian bodybuilder BusTech is officially back, with its new owners announcing the brand will return to its historic home via a new factory that will contribute to the nation’s billion dollar bus manufacturing industry.
BusTech will return to the Gold Coast into a brand-new 6,000sqm manufacturing facility, creating more than 100 local jobs directly and hundreds more indirectly through the wider supply chain.
The news comes after the manufacturer was rescued from administration by the GoZero Group last year, with managing director Stephen Cartwright OEM saying he’s excited to bring manufacturing jobs back to the Gold Coast.
“BusTech has a long and proud history with the Gold Coast, and we’re excited to help drive it into its next chapter,” he says.
“We’re bringing back a bigger and better bus builder to Yatala, creating more jobs, money and business to the area.
“This new manufacturing facility will help us build any bus the customer wants, including the Euro 6 public transport buses which we’ve been manufacturing at our smaller factory in Brisbane.
“The buses that will drive out of this factory will be world-class public transport assets built by skilled local tradies for Queensland passengers.”
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The move sees BusTech return to its Gold Coast roots, where it was first founded by the Calabro family in 1995 who wanted to manufacture the buses it needed to run local operator Surfside Buslines.
Following the family’s sale of BusTech to Precision Bus Group, the Gold Coast factory was closed, and operations were moved to Rocklea, in Brisbane’s south.
One of the first decisions made by current owners, the GoZero Group, was to bring BusTech back to the Gold Coast, and its return is supported through a grant from Invest Gold Coast.
“The new Yatala factory covers approximately 6,000 square metres, providing substantially more production line space than the Rocklea site,” Cartwright says.
“Once it is fully outfitted and operational, the factory will have the capacity to produce between 120 and 200 buses a year.
“Our goal is to build a strong manufacturing operation in Queensland and create lasting opportunities for local workers, apprentices and suppliers.
“I hope that this new chapter for BusTech can help jumpstart an even larger skilled manufacturing ecosystem on the Gold Coast.”
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