«The year 2020 was a time of unprecedented challenges for many companies, including those from the public transport sector. Even though the continent had to deal with the pandemic from the beginning of the year, Solaris made every endeavour to maintain the continuity of its business activities. Owing to the fantastic and responsible attitude of our employees as well as excellent collaboration with our clients and business partners, we finished this year with record sales numbers. We have proved to our clients that they can rely on our company even in the toughest of times. I rest assured that we will overcome this difficult time for the whole industry and we will emerge from this experience stronger», said Javier Calleja, CEO of Solaris, summing up the year 2020.
Solaris results 2020: sales volumes increased nearly 5% from 2019
In 2020 Solaris increased to 1,560 units from 1,487 in 2019, with a 4.6% increase that, in a difficult year as 2020 has been, it is quite a surprising results (city bus market decreased in Europe of around 10 per cent). Today the Polish company outlined the 2020 results during an online-held press conference. Solaris […]
In 2020 Solaris increased to 1,560 units from 1,487 in 2019, with a 4.6% increase that, in a difficult year as 2020 has been, it is quite a surprising results (city bus market decreased in Europe of around 10 per cent). Today the Polish company outlined the 2020 results during an online-held press conference.
Solaris results 2020, a record year in Italy
The 1,560 vehicles sold in 2020 represent the highest number ever achieved in Solaris’ 25-year history.
CEO Javier Calleja introduced that «Poland is our main market, with over 350 buses sold in 2020. We have a share of 53% in our domestic market. We then sold 320 buses in Germany. And we had a record year in Italy, where we sold 240 buses and 69% of the e-buses sold in 2020 are Solaris». A performance mainly due to the orders from ATM Milan.
Being more specific, Solaris became the market leader for low-floor city buses in Poland for the 18th year in a row, by achieving a 53% share in this segment. This translates into a year-on-year increase in the company’s market share in Poland of 11% (41% in 2019). The Solaris buses sold in Poland in 2020 included primarily electric buses (194 out of 365 units sold in total). The whole fleet of Urbino electric buses in Poland amounts to over 320 vehicles, supplied to 27 towns and cities, i.e. they make up as much as 90% of all e-buses in the country.
Alternative drives gain ground in Solaris 2020 results
Last year Solaris recorded a particularly impressive growth in sales of buses with low- and zero-emission drives. In 2018, hybrid buses, e-buses and trolleybuses constituted in total 29% of all vehicles sold by the manufacturer. In 2019, this figure stood at 40%. This trend was continued in 2020 leading to the number of sold vehicles with alternative drives growing to up to 44%. Dynamic growth in the share of electric buses in the production and sales mix of Solaris is consistent with the long-term development strategy of the firm, as well as of the whole CAF Group, which has been the owner of Solaris since 2018.
Concerning the financial situation, Solaris 2020 results show that revenues increase of 13.6%, to 725 million euros, with an EBITDA of 67 million euros (increasing from 43 in 2019). We are at the top of profitability in Europe.
Significants figures in the order book
As we already reported, Solaris resulted to be one of the market leaders in Western Europe e-bus market in 2020. Sales of Solaris electric buses increased from 162 in 2019 to 457 in 2020, with a +187% increase, it was made public. Today, Solaris battery-electric buses are running in 91 cities in 18 countries.
In 2020, the manufacturer won significant tenders for the delivery of electric buses in 2021 or later. The order book for 2021 contains, among other things, 50 articulated Urbino electric buses for operator MPK in Cracow, 37 e-buses for operator MPK Poznań, and 16 zero-emission buses for the Romanian city of Craiova.
Solaris also made it onto the shortlist of suppliers to deliver up to 530 electric buses for German operator Hamburger Hochbahn. The carrier from Hamburg only placed its first order for 10 electric buses in 2020. In 2021 Solaris ebuses will be also delivered to operators from France, Latvia, Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
Solaris results 2020, a look to the future
According to market forecasts, Solaris says: «the hydrogen-fuelled city bus segment will grow dynamically in Europe over the next 10 years. Having won several significant tenders for the delivery of hydrogen vehicles in 2020, the company has proved that it is ready for the market’s fast-changing needs. The bus maker secured orders for the supply of hydrogen buses from operators in the Germany, Netherlands, Italy and Sweden».
