Northern Ireland firm Wrightbus is launching the products under its newly launched Rightech brand to sell across the UK and Europe.

The models include two trucks, a 7.5 tonne in left-hand and right-hand drive, and two buses, a 6m and a 9m sized model.

The firm, which is the first to make a hydrogen powered double-decker bus and has 1,700 electric vehicles on the road, says it has “has already secured orders across the target territories, giving towns and cities more affordable options in the race to reduce emissions and improve air quality”.

Rightech has also struck a service agreement with vehicle services firm Sapphire for the UK, adding 14 regional workshops to the existing three operated by Wrightbus – Ballymena, Bicester and Warwick.

For Europe, Rightech has signed four LOIs with service providers in Germany, France and Benelux, in addition to the Wrightbus regional service headquarters in Brühl, adds the firm.

Wrightbus has more than 2,000 employees with factories across Northern Ireland and Malaysia.

“A strategic framework agreement with two Chinese manufacturers provides the basis for the new products, though Wrightbus engineers have spent more than 30,000 hours bringing the fleet up to the Wrightbus standard,” said the firm.

Its chief executive Jean-Marc Gales added: “We want to be a global mobility business and to do this we need to broaden our product portfolio.

“Our factory continues to increase production of full-size single and double-deck buses but to meet demand in the zero-emission midi-bus sector this partnership makes sense. The quickest way to decarbonise truck and bus fleets is to electrify immediately.”

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