Coachwork International was a bus manufacturer in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

, New Zealand. Founded in 1926 as New Zealand Motor Bodies, in 1983 it merged with

Hawke Coachwork Hawke Coachwork Limited was a New Zealand bus and coach body manufacturer. Established in 1952 by brothers Haddon and Leslie Hawke, it was based on Great South Road, Takanini. It became a subsidiary of New Zealand Motor Corporation. In the la ...

to form Coachwork International. It ceased trading in 1993.

History

New Zealand Motor Bodies

New Zealand Motor Bodies (NZMB) was established in 1926 as Munt, Cottrell, Nielsen and Company Limited when Munt, Cottrell & Co of

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by m ...

and Neilsen's Body Works of

Dannevirke Dannevirke ( " work of the Danes", a reference to Danevirke; mi, Taniwaka, lit= or ''Tāmaki-nui-a-Rua'', the area where the town is), is a rural service town in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the ma ...

merged.Company Affairs
''

Auckland Star The ''Auckland Star'' was an evening daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and th ...

'' 5 June 1926 page 11 NZMB operated from the corner of Hutt Road and Jackson Street in

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in P ...

building metal frame bus and coach bodies and other commercial bodies, hoists and other truck equipment.New Zealand Motor Bodies plant, Keith Street
Manawatu Heritage It bodied over 1,000 Bedford SBs for the New Zealand Railways Department. A new factory building in Keith Street

was opened on 3 July 1977. The new plant covered 18,000 square metres.

Coachwork International

In 1983 NZMB merged with competitor

to form Coachwork International. Owned by Moller Corporation and Newmans, in 1987 it held an 80% share of the New Zealand bus bodying market. Production continued at the Palmerston North plant, while Hawke's plant in Takanini was retained, specialising in building and repairing buses for city authorities. In 1988, Coachwork International was purchased by Jaguar Rover Australia. After Jaguar Rover Australia was placed in administration, and with the impending end of tariff protection. Deloitte & Touche received no offers to purchase the business with operations ceasing in June 1993.

Products

In 1973, it produced the first of 590 VoV bodies for imported Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and MAN bus chassis. In 1977 NZMB obtained manufacturing rights for the Swiss Carrosserie Hess system. In the early-1980s, NZMB bodied 450 Volvo B58 and

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarter ...

buses for Singapore Bus Service. In 1981 it began assembling Plaxton Supreme bodies delivered in CKD packs from England.NZ's first Plaxton
''

Commercial Motor ''Commercial Motor'' is a weekly magazine serving the road transport Road transport or road transportation is a type of transport using roads. Transport on roads can be roughly grouped into the transportation of goods and transportation o ...

'' 8 August 1981

References

External links

{{Bus transport in New Zealand Bus manufacturers of New Zealand Palmerston North Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1926 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1993 New Zealand companies established in 1926 1993 disestablishments in New Zealand