They are made in Egypt but for the streets of London. Egyptian manufacturer, MCV, is now making London’s red double-decker buses at home. For the first time, these hybrid models made to meet Euro-6 emission standards will be manufactured outside of Europe.

“This bus is a hybrid system, which means it runs on both diesel and electricity. This bus is a Euro-6 model, it has the highest emission technology in the world right now, which needs a special kind of gas. It runs on either diesel or electricity depending on the journey and road condition. This is the first time for a hybrid bus to be manufactured and assembled outside of Europe.” Said Rafik Nabil, General Manager, Quality Assurance

Euro-6 refers to European legislation for vehicle emissions, where cars registered from September 1, 2015 are expected to meet certain requirements. The aim of the technology is to reduce carbon emissions produced by vehicles, and the Euro-6 bus emitts 96 percent less nitrogen dioxide than a Euro-5 bus.

“Our manufacturing process begins from when we first purchase the materials, from the first bolt and screw, until the end when we see the bus moving. We work on all stages of production, from machining, to brackets, inserts, all the way until the bus is assembled at the highest global standards.” Said Wael Wanis, General Manager, Production and Maintenance

MCV first started working with Transport For London in 2011, with the launch of a partnership agreement to manufacture the buses. Today, the company has provided about 500 buses to the London fleet out of a total of about 9,000 vehicles operating across 675 routes.

“It took a lot of work from the entire company, starting from receiving the client’s requirements, the design specifications, to designing the first prototype, and the first pilot batch where tests are run to ensure that the designs are correct. We recheck our work at every stage throughout the process to make sure that everything turned out according to the original designs. This took a lot of effort and a lot of late nights, but when we saw the finished product, it was all worth it.”
Said Wael Wanis, General Manager, Production and Maintenance

MCV have already sent two batches from the total number of vehicles, and are currently working on production of the final batch. But this is not new for the company. Since 2010, it has produced and exported up to 6,000 buses per year to countries in the Gulf, Australia, Africa and parts of Asia.