USA – REV Group Inc, the parent of several commercial and specialty vehicle brands¹ based in Brookfield, Wisconsin, has announced it is exiting the transit bus industry by closing down ENC (El Dorado National-California) and selling off school bus manufacturer Collins Bus Corporation.

ENC, which was founded in 1975 as ‘National Coach Corporation’ in Riverside, California, is primarily known for its low floor and cutaway buses, including the ‘Axess’ range of 35- and 40-foot transit buses. In 2022, the company announced it had contracted Proterra and BAE Systems to supply batteries and electric drive systems respectively for battery and fuel cell versions of the Axess range. However, REV Group President and CEO, Mark Skonieczny, said that delays in the supply of “critical” EV components – an implicit reference perhaps to the collapse of Proterra last year – and other pressures have made it difficult for ENC to compete profitably “versus peers of greater scale”. As such, bus manufacturing at Riverside will wind down by the end of fiscal year 2024, once outstanding commitments to customers have been fulfilled.