Wright on! Ballymena bus is pride of Britain in the ‘Big Apple’

Prince Harry and Prime Minister Cameron launched the tour at Milk Studios in New York City, arriving in style on a special edition GREAT London double decker bus - which was, of course, built by Wrightbus at their Galgorm factory.

The tour will take in four continents and 16 countries, including key markets such as India, Russia and South Korea, over the next 12 months. Two of the eye-catching New Bus for London (NBfL) have been loaned by Transport for London (TfL) to the British Government to help promote Britain abroad.

Prince Harry and Prime Minister Cameron rode the GREAT bus to an event for the creative and tech community in New York at Milk Studios’ Manhattan headquarters. There they met US companies exploring investment in the UK as well as British companies successfully operating in the United States. During the New York leg of the tour, the bus will attend Internet Week New York and NYCx Design, the city’s inaugural design festival. The bus is an innovative platform that will help support British companies in developing their overseas markets, generating local interest in investing in Britain, as well as increasing numbers of tourists and students.

Renowned British designer Thomas Heatherwick created the NBfL to share some of the design DNA of the iconic Routemaster double-decker bus. Built by Wrightbus, one of Northern Ireland’s leading manufacturers, the NBfL is a public transport vehicle for the 21st century. The NBfL is fully accessible to the disabled and uses the latest green diesel-electric hybrid technology to increase fuel efficiency. It produces half the carbon dioxide of a conventional diesel bus.

Wright Group Managing Director Mark Nodder said: “Being part of the GREAT campaign is a unique opportunity for us to showcase this phenomenal new product. The New Bus for London represents the pinnacle of British automotive engineering design and we are tremendously excited to show the world what we have achieved.”

The tour aims to generate sales of this state-of-the-art vehicle. UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) teams will work with Wrightbus to market the NBfL to potential customers.

Established in 1946, the Wright Group employs over 1400 people and is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of accessible public transport vehicles.