East Lancs Kinetec
Encyclopedia
East Lancashire Coachbuilders
East Lancashire Coachbuilders Limited was a manufacturer of bus bodies and carriages founded in 1934 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England.In 1994 the company expanded in to new premises and commenced a programme of development that resulted in a range of single and double deck buses which was the...
Kinetec is a type of bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
body for MAN
MAN AG
MAN SE , formerly MAN AG, is a mechanical engineering company and parent company of the MAN Group. MAN SE is based in Munich, in the German State of Bavaria. Its primary output is for the automotive industry, particularly heavy trucks...
chassis. Both variants were launched at Euro Bus Expo 2006.
Kinetec (single decker)
The standard Kinetec is a single decker body that appears to have been influenced by the Optare SigmaOptare Sigma
The Optare Sigma was a step-entrance single-deck bus body built by Optare between 1994 and 1996 on the Dennis Lance chassis. The body was constructed from Alusuisse aluminium alloy with GRP front and rear panels....
body in styling and construction. Unlike the Sigma though it is of low floor design. Reviews from its launch in Euro Bus Expo 2006 were very poor. Like the Scania OmniTown
Scania OmniTown
The Scania OmniTown was a bus body sold in the United Kingdom. It utilised the Scania N94UB chassis , with East Lancashire Coachbuilders bodywork. It is sometimes mistakenly referred to as the OmniTown chassis or the Dennis Dart chassis...
the bus uses the East Lancs Esteem body, but with the chassis maker's (MAN
MAN AG
MAN SE , formerly MAN AG, is a mechanical engineering company and parent company of the MAN Group. MAN SE is based in Munich, in the German State of Bavaria. Its primary output is for the automotive industry, particularly heavy trucks...
's) "Lion's City
MAN Lion's City
MAN Lion's City is a city bus built by the German truck and bus manufacturer MAN Nutzfahrzeuge since 2000. A new generation was launched in 2004....
" front.
Kinetec+ (double decker)
The Kinetec+ is a double decker bus seemingly influenced by the Optare SpectraOptare Spectra
Launched in 1991, the Optare Spectra is a double-decker bus body built on the DAF DB250 chassis.The vehicle was developed as a joint project between Optare and DAF; based on the designs of the successful MCW Metrobus which Optare had purchased, but they are no means a restlyed Metrobus...
body. The first prototype body has a low-height (4 metres) design under EU regulations, which has been criticised. Another prototype in London specification with a 4.3 metre height had been planned, but this was not materialised.
Like later Spectras, the body is of low floor design and has the same lower dash panel as the single decker Kinetec. Like the Kinetec, this bus again uses the chassis maker's (MAN's) front with the East Lancs Olympus body.