Corbeil Bus Corporation

Corbeil Bus Corporation is a school and commercial bus manufacturer, based in Hutchinson, Kansas. It was created from the acquisition of predecessor Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil by Collins Industries in 2007. Collins markets the Corbeil brand name throughout Canada, and as special order buses in the United States.

History

Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil

A Corbeil Type A bus photographed in Canada.

Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil is a former school and commercial bus manufacturer, based out of St-Lin-Laurentides, Canada.

Founded in 1985, the first Corbeil buses were produced in a 7,000-square-foot (650 m²) factory; 77 buses (all Type A school buses) were manufactured the first year. The factory was later moved to a 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m²) facility to increase production. In 1990, Corbeil added full-size buses along with dual-rear wheel Type A school buses.

Corbeil buses were known for utilizing lightweight components, allowing for many flexible floorplans. Being built in Canada, Corbeil made a bus that was resistant to winter conditions, which made it a popular bus not only in Canada, but in the Northeast United States, particularly New York.

Outside of Canada, Corbeil's largest dealers, were Don Brown Bus Sales of Johnstown, NY and Gorman Enterprises of Elma, NY. New York State made up the majority of Corbeil's overall sales in the United States.

In addition to Type A buses, Corbeil built Type C (conventional) and Type D (transit-style) buses. These were only sold in Canada, as Corbeil did not want to enter the highly competitive US market. Most conventionals were built on International chassis, but some Ford B-700 and Freightliner FS-65 chassis were supplied as well. Additionally, International supplied Type D chassis, but Corbeil was not allowed to sell their Type D buses in the United States because they would compete against similar products built by International's subsidiary, AmTran.

In September 2007, after a few years of declining business, Corbeil shut down operations, and Collins Bus Corporation purchased assets, including designs, naming rights, and warranty.

Corbeil Bus Corporation

After the acquisition in late 2007, Collins moved all Corbeil production from Quebec to their headquarters in Hutchinson, Kansas; this brought all Collins school bus production into one facility (Mid Bus production in Ohio was closed at the same time). Today, the three Collins school bus brands sell a common product line differentiated largely by brand engineering. In addition, sales of each brand are concentrated in different regions of North America so as not to directly compete with one another but as a whole against competitors like Blue Bird/Girardin, Starcraft, Thomas, and Trans Tech.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Corbeil school buses.

• Corbeil bus

References

• - Coachbuilt.com history and background on Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil