Optare Album

In 1984 Leyland Group decided to close down their long-established Leeds-based bus-building company, Charles H Roe. In 1985 a management buyout led by plant director Russell Richardson, and supported by the West Yorkshire Enterprise Board, set up Optare. They began production with Roe-designed bodies for Leyland Olympian chassis, but soon turned to their own designs. In 1989 Optare acquired the design of the integral construction MCW MetroRider, and in the following year Optare joined DAF bus in the United Bus group. The Spectra was DAF-based but United Bus collapsed in 1993, so after another management buyout the Mercedes-based Sigma and Prisma buses were launched. In 2000 Optare was acquired by a Hungarian group, North American Bus Industries. In 2005 yet another management buyout saw Optare independent again. In 2008, Darwen Group merged with the Leeds firm as Optare Plc.