Higer diesel coach and electric bus range for UK relaunch in 2026

Higer diesel coaches and battery-electric buses will be relaunched into the UK after Dublin-based importer Harris Group formed Harris Bus and Coach to serve the market for those products here.

Vehicle rollout will begin in earnest from the start of 2026. Several senior appointments have already been made, including Bill Laidlaw as Harris Truck and Bus Managing Director. He has over 35 years’ experience in the automotive industry and was previously responsible for introducing the expanded Maxus range of light commercial vehicles to the UK.

Head of Bus Sales is James Hooker. He also has a long career in automotive, and like Mr Laidlaw moves from the Maxus brand within the Harris Group portfolio. A Coach Sales Manager is currently being recruited, with an appointment expected soon.

Also key to the Higer coach and bus offer here is Aftersales Manager Wayne Ulph. He has been with Harris for around a year and in the past had a spell with MAN, latterly leading its coach sales operation in the UK.

Mr Laidlaw says Harris Group believes that with a buoyant market for coach and bus in the UK, now is the right time to make a re-entry with Higer products and with a long-term focus on establishing the Chinese brand as a contender.

Harris Group Managing Director Brian Patterson stresses that the Higer operation and its leadership is significantly different to previous work in the UK coach and bus market. He adds that much investment is going into parts and aftersales support, both at the group’s Naas Road premises in Dublin and its Liverpool headquarters for the UK.

Training is key to that backup. Harris expects to bring Higer-specific specialists up to Master Technician standard. Vehicles for use as training ‘mules’ will be in Ireland and engineers dedicated to supporting the products will be sent to the factory in Suzhou to learn.

V-Series in three lengths to lead Higer coach line in UK

Making up the coach range from 2026 will be the Higer V-Series. On two axles it will come as the 10m V10 with up to 37 seats as a successor to the Super 9 that has done well for Harris in the Irish market, and the 12m V12 with up to 49. On three axles will be the 13m V13, to seat 57. A stock order for the V-Series has already been placed for expected arrival in October.

Mr Ulph notes that further batches will be procured as stock, but with an expectation of them largely having been sold before arrival. Following homologation of each V-Series model, PSVAR readiness will be specified from the factory, with items such as lifts and destination displays to be added after arrival as appropriate. Non-PSVAR will be built to order.

Cummins power will be used across the range along with ZF axles and the EcoLife automatic gearbox. Mr Laidlaw notes that while Cummins is the standard, Harris does not rule out equipping the full-sized coaches with power units from another supplier in the longer-term.

Battery-electric coach products are not on the radar for now. However, those are within the Higer range for the Chinese market and they are expected to follow the V-Series here in the longer-term, although Mr Laidlaw adds that the priority for now is establishing a firm foundation before further expanding the range.

Nevertheless, part of a five-year development plan for the Harris Bus and Coach business in the UK is the Sima. It is described as a compact battery-electric coach and is due here in 2028.

Battery-electric Azure bus to come at nine- and 12-metre lengths

For bus, the Azure model will be built in nine- and 12-metre variants. The smaller of those will seat 26 passengers and have a maximum capacity of 62, with 263kWh of battery capacity. The larger variant will seat 39 people, carry 70 in total, and have 481kWh of energy storage.

Batteries come from CATL and use lithium iron phosphate chemistry. Charge will be taken via either DC or AC through a CCS2 connection. Pantograph-based opportunity charging in the longer-term is not ruled out, and Higer is open to adapting the vehicles to comply with the Transport for London Bus Safety Standard if needed.

The two single-deck electric buses for now sit alongside the wheel-forward Steed, which has been sold here in small numbers. Eight of that type remain in stock at Harris, but the product will only be available to special order beyond those.

Mr Ulph notes how scoping work was done by Higer to explore whether the Steed could be adapted to a door-forward layout, but it was unviable. In the future, product development to complement the Azure is likely to focus on double-deck battery-electric.

Dealership approach key for Harris Bus and Coach in UK

A dealership structure in the UK is key to the Higer coach and bus offering here, Mr Laidlaw continues. Ten Higer specialist dealers have been identified on a regional basis from the wider Maxus network and they will be named later this year. All will offer aftersales and eight will also sell new vehicles.

Further support will be provided by two mobile technicians reporting to Mr Ulph, while the Higer vehicles will also benefit from the Harris Non-Stop 24/7 mobile service unit approach. They will all have Geotab Drive telematics and what Harris says is “real-time AI monitoring” to enable predictive maintenance and fleet oversight.

The dealership element is central to the strategy for Higer products here, he says; those agents will carry out pre-delivery inspections and it will thus not be necessary for UK-bound coaches or buses to be shipped via Harris’s headquarters in Ireland.

Handover of vehicles to the customer will also take place at dealerships. “We want the dealers to be involved as much as possible from the start, and we will build on the network in due course,” Mr Ulph continues.

While those parties will provide service and support, Harris will also work with fleet buyers to establish suitable skills in-house to enable them to support their own vehicles.

In an indication of Harris’s confidence in the Higer brand in the UK and Ireland, it has committed to 150 build slots with the builder in 2026. Those can be adjusted between coach and bus to suit demand.

Mr Patterson speaks of the investment-heavy approach being “a turning point” for Harris in the coach and bus market, and such a commitment on units and a long-term strategy would indicate that it means business.