Jointly organized by Volvo Buses and its partner Truckquip Sdn. Bhd. (TQ), Volvo's fully authorized chassis assembly factory in Malaysia, the Ride and Drive kicked off at Volvo Buses' Malaysia office in Shah Alam. The event saw participants take a tour around the Shah Alam area and enjoyed mixed road conditions, which allowed them to gain the full experience of riding for the first time the newly built Volvo B11RLE double deck coach.

"This is an opportunity not to be missed," said Mats Nilsson, Vice President of Volvo Buses Asia Pacific. "Malaysia is the only market in Asia offering the Volvo B11RLE, it is assembled and built here in Malaysia, and specially designed for Malaysia to meet our customers' expectations, passengers' requirements, and local operational needs. Today is the first time ever that we are showcasing the fully built bus and providing first-hand ride and drive experience. By offering one specific product model specially designed for one market, it shows our full commitment to the development of public transportation in Malaysia and our strong confidence in the growth of express coaches and premium tour buses in the Malaysian bus market."

The newly-built Volvo B111RLE 6x2 double deck is to be handed over to Sani Express Sdn Bhd (Sani). The company has signed an order for a total of 12 units, which will be delivered throughout the year and plan to put them in operations e.g. for service between Kota Bharu and Kuala Lumpur. Sani is one of the biggest bus operators from Kota Bharu, providing transportation services including airport transport, hotel shuttle, intercity and city operations. Wan Mohd Iskandar bin Dato Salleh, Group Managing Director of Sani, is confident that the newly purchased Volvo B11RLE models will elevate his fleet to a new level by providing outstanding comfort to his passengers for long distance travel.

Volvo Buses continues to place efforts in the Malaysian bus market by providing the best solutions to address the challenges that operators face in their daily operations and ultimately the best on-road experience to the local passengers!  

Kuala Lumpur, 2nd March 2023 – "As the bridge between states and cross border travels, express coaches play an essential and prominent role in the public transportation system in Malaysia. Intercity coach travel serves areas or cities, which otherwise could be difficult to reach, providing a more flexible and economical alternative for our people. Thus, we are extremely excited to see manufacturers like Volvo working with local body build partners like Truckquip, coming up with products that are customized and specially designed to meet the local operational needs, and bring to our operators a first-hand experience of ride and drive. We believe this will encourage more efforts and investments into the local bus industry and ultimately benefit our passengers by providing a safer, more comfortable and enjoyable journey!", said YB Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Transport Minister of Malaysia.

The first ever Volvo B11R low entry bus featuring the ALPHA DD12 TQ body, is designed to be the king of the road, offering maximized safety with a newly integrated Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) enhanced with technologies such as Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), which will provide alerts against falling asleep momentarily or distractions whilst driving. In addition, the Alpha DD12 built as a wider stance resulting lower center of gravity for better stability, especially while driving on the highway, to increase driver confidence, thus ultimately improve passenger comfort and road safety.

“The partnership between Volvo Buses and TQ started as early as 2015, with bus chassis assembly for the local market, and we are proud to collaborate on this specially designed for Malaysia model Volvo B11RLE 6x2. It is a true glo-cal approach, a state-of-the-art product with global experience from Volvo, coupled with local body design meeting every need of the local requirements. TQ’s technical team has worked day and night over the past year with Volvo’s body building support and instructions to come up with this striking, premium double deck coach and we look forward to more such successful collaborations” shared Tan Keng Meng, Executive Vice President and Group CEO of Warisan TC Holdings Berhad.

After introducing the Volvo B11RLE 6x2 chassis to the Malaysian bus market, Volvo Buses is now showcasing the first ever fully built Volvo B11RLE 6x2 double deck coach and inviting customers to experience first-hand a Ride and Drive event.

• YB Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Transport Minister of Malaysia, and His Excellency Dr. Joachim Bergstrom, Ambassador of Sweden to Malaysia, graced the event held at the Volvo Group Malaysia Shah Alam office.

• This is the first time a fully built Volvo B11R Low Entry 6x2 double deck coach is showcased and operated on road in the market since the chassis' introduction in 2022.

A Ride and Drive with the first ever Volvo B11RLE low entry double deck coach in Malaysia