The Wright GB Hawk is an full-size

single-deck bus A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which i ...

produced by

Wrightbus Wrightbus is a Northern Ireland based bus manufacturer and a pioneer of the low-floor bus. The company was established in 1946 by Robert Wright and was later run by his son William Wright, until it was acquired in 2019 by British businessman ...

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

since 2021. The first all-new model to be launched by Wrightbus following their takeover by JCB, the GB Hawk is an integral design consisting of the same chassis and body design as the existing double-deck

Wright StreetDeck The Wright StreetDeck is an integral double-decker bus that was manufactured by Wrightbus from 2014, originally delivered as standard with a Daimler OM934 diesel engine. Hybrid-electric, full-electric and hydrogen-powered variants have subsequ ...

; it is also powered by the same Daimler OM934 engine found in the StreetDeck. The GB Hawk replaces the

Volvo B8RLE The Volvo B8RLE is a 7.7-litre-engined low-entry bus chassis manufactured by Volvo since 2013 for Euro VI markets. It was designed as a replacement for the B7RLE and the B9RLE. The right-hand drive version was launched in November 2014.

-powered

Wright Eclipse 3 The Wright Eclipse is a low-floor single-deck bus body that was built by Wrightbus between 1999 and 2019. The second-generation Eclipse 2 was launched in 2008, followed by the third-generation Eclipse 3 in 2015. The Eclipse, and its sister desig ...

at the top end of the Wrightbus single-decker bus range, as they consolidate towards producing only integral vehicles, and competes with heavyweight designs such as the

MCV Evora The MCV Evora (stylised as ''eVoRa''; internal designation: MCV C123) is a single-decker bus bodywork produced by Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles (MCV) since 2018, as the successor to the MCV Evolution. The Evora is currently available on Volvo B ...

and the Scania Fencer. Production of the GB Hawk commenced in January 2021. The first Hawk entered service on non-passenger trials with

Ipswich Buses Ipswich BusesCompanies House extract company no 2000058
Ips ...

in February 2021. Northern Irish state operator

Ulsterbus Ulsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink, the brand name for the subsidiary operating companies of the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company, which also ...

were the first and so far only operator to place orders for the GB Hawk, with 49 examples entering service with the operator from mid-2021.

References

{{Wrightbus Single-deck buses Low-floor buses Vehicles introduced in 2021 GB Hawk