Blue Bird issued a statement that its business remained sound amid the demise of its former Coachworks and Wanderlodge brands, which the company hasn’t owned for nearly two years.
The school bus manufacturer sold its entire coach business including the Fort Valley manufacturing facility in July of 2007 to Complete Coach Works of Riverside, Calif., following Blue Bird’s purchase by Cerberus Capital Management and the formation of the Traxis Group. A spokesman for Complete Coach Works confirmed the company is going out of business and was in the process of selling all assets.
“As a result, we no longer have a financial connection with this unrelated business entity as it is a completely separate company,” said Greg Bennett, chairman of the board for the Traxis Group and the new president and CEO at Blue Bird. “Blue Bird Corporation is as strong as ever and in excellent financial shape. For 82 years, Blue Bird Corporation has been developing, producing and refining the best and safest buses in the industry, and we continue to be confident in our growth prospects.”
At the time, Blue Bird was emerging from the bankruptcy of Peach Tree Holdings LLC and was exclusively refocusing its efforts on the school bus brand. Meanwhile, North American Bus Industries took control of Blue Bird’s commercial bus line and moved production to Anniston, Ala. The transactions gave parent company Cerberus Capital Management a complete line of its own school buses and transit buses.
Earlier this month, Blue Bird trimmed its workforce by about 40 administrative employees. Additionally, in February, Blue Bird laid off contract and salary employees, but representatives at the time said those reductions would not affect plans to add about 100 jobs in the next year as the company moves its fabrication work to a new plant located about four miles from the main facilities in Fort Valley, Ga.
