2000s
Robert Wright & Son was restructured in 2000, with the bus building operation rebranded to Wrightbus as a part of the Wright Group. Companies formed alongside Wrightbus in the Wright Group were Expotech, handling the export of the group's technologies and international joint ventures such as Chance Coaches,[8] and CustomCare, an aftermarket support operation servicing buses delivered by both Wrightbus and other bus manufacturers.[9]
After production of the Volvo B10BLE ceased in 2001, Wrightbus developed the Wright Eclipse body for the new Volvo B7L chassis, which, due to its vertical rear engine, was not popular with many operators. Nevertheless, Wright did not lose custom and many operators such as Ulsterbus switched to the incline-engined Scania L94UB, on a similar Wright Solar body. Another bodywork which resembles the Solar/Eclipse range is the Meridian, which was bodied on the MAN A22 full low-floor single-deck chassis.
Wrightbus' first double-decker bus, the Wright Eclipse Gemini, was launched on the Volvo B7TL chassis in 2001. A similarly-styled bus entered service with Arriva London in August 2003 as the Wright Pulsar Gemini on the VDL DB250 chassis. Large operators of Gemini-bodied Wrightbus buses included Arriva, the FirstGroup, the Go-Ahead Group, Lothian Buses and National Express' West Midlands, Coventry and Dundee operations.
In November 2004, Wrightbus announced it was returning to producing bodies for minibuses at the Coach & Bus 2004 expo with the launch of the low-floor Satellite body, which was to be built on the Iveco Daily-based Irisbus LoGo 65C17 chassis cowl. The body, capable of seating between 24 and 28 passengers with room for a wheelchair through the application of a drop-centre frame, was expected to be launched in mid-2005.[10][11][12] In July 2005, however, Wrightbus announced that the Wright Satellite had been place on 'indefinite hold' in favour of further developing the Wright StreetCar and other Euro IV products.[13]
