Optare Soroco helps widen the market

The decision by Biggar operator Air & Golf Tour Links to put a new Optare Soroco II on the road has helped to open up their market, bringing wider business opportunities.

“The Soroco is an ideal mid-range vehicle that I can use on a greater variety of work than I’ve been able to do with my previous vehicle, which was solely targeted at the very top-end of the market,” says owner James Dudds. “With this vehicle I can still cater for my core market, which is high profile golf tours, and also use it for local private hires and the increasing amount of corporate work that we’re now doing.

“I’ve reduced the seating from 19 to 16 and fitted a pair of tables, which makes it particularly suited to corporate work as it allows people to conduct business whilst on the move. I also find that corporate clients prefer to put small parties onto a vehicle of this size rather than use a people carrier into which they have to shoehorn the party and their luggage. And they’re prepared to pay a modest premium for that extra space and comfort.

“The smart appearance of the coach is also helping to attract work. A number of jobs have come my way simply because of the interest that the coach has attracted. There’s clearly a market for a high quality 16-seater as opposed to minicoaches in the 20 plus seat sector and I’m filling that niche with my Soroco.”

The coach has already found itself on privately arranged tours into the Highlands and onto Orkney as well as heading south into Northumbria and the Lake District. The reduced seating capacity allows plenty of room for luggage on this kind of work but for golf tours a small trailer is towed to take the bulky golf bags.

James Dudds says that at 150 bhp the Soroco has ample power to make easy work of the hilly terrain. And although the coach has only been on the road a few weeks, it’s already delivering good fuel returns thanks to a well-matched driveline that includes a six-speed transmission.

Internally the Soroco offers a high specification that includes air conditioning as standard. Seats are Kiel recliners and the double-glazed and tinted side windows with full-draw curtains contribute to increased passenger privacy when this is needed.

The fact that the Soroco II is based on the Mercedes-Benz 515 CDi chassis is also considered by James Dudds to be a significant advantage. “The Mercedes dealer network is both very extensive and of a high quality,” he says. “And when I had an early small teething problem recently I was able to get it fixed very quickly by a local dealer without any real disruption to the job I was on.”