Scania made a big splash at last week’s Sydney Bus Expo unveiling a couple of interesting new bus concepts and also showing off one of the battery electric route buses the Swedish maker has sold to South Australian Transit for use in Adelaide.
The company also introduced its new director of sales for bus, following the departure of Julian Gurney from the company almost two years ago. The
new Bus boss is Niklas Walter, a Swede who arrived in Australia to take up the role of director of sales for Scania Bus and Power Solutions a few months ago.
The new boss certainly had plenty to show off to the bus industry at our largest expo for large people movers with a stand that was filled with new buses, which as it explained ‘showcased the depth and breadth of Scania’s powertrain and fuel options’.
Front of stage was Scania’s new ‘Super’ powered coach chassis using the Super-13 litre engine which comes directly from its truck portfolio and promises up to 500 hp, which should keep any coach captain happy at the wheel of a coach full of people all keen to get to where they’re going without slow grinding hillclimbs and even slower acceleration away from the lights.
“We are excited to show off and talk about many of Scania’s new options to customers,” said Walter.
Scania was at pains to point out that the six cylinder Super engines will not only deliver better performance for coaches but most importantly, will also deliver significantly better fuel consumption, along with cleaner exhaust emissions thanks to its Euro VI compliance. Scania also claims extended service life for the engines along with the sexiest part, more power and torque particularly at low engine revs.
The company is keen to exploit its new range of truck engines as power plants for its bus range and indicated that the recently launched Super 11 litre that it unveiled to transport media in Melbourne across a range of vocationally focussed trucks recently, is also likely to find its way into the back of a whole bunch of bus and coach chassis before too long, offering a choice of 350, 390 and 430 hp 
variants.
As well as the Super 13 powered coach chassis, Scania also revealed another bus-truck crossover, this time with an off-road capable bus built on a 4×4 truck chassis with a specially adapted bus body created by local operator, AutoBus. The off road TruBus has a capacity of around 40 passengers and is built on a Scania P-series truck chassis
The sample on the Scania stand in Sydney was the very first one to be publicly presented by AutoBus Australia, and is aimed most particularly at mining and renewable energy operators, as well as for military applications, for schools in remote areas, along with emergency services, and of course in tourism.
Scania revealed at the show that the striking black and yellow coloured TruBus was conceived by bus builders Frank Turrisi and Boris Cherny and their team, who Scania claims have more than 80 years of combined expertise in commercial vehicle and bus manufacturing within their AutoBus Australia brand.
Scania reckons the go-anywhere bus will will be ideal for anywhere that requires travelling on unsealed or unmade roads such as remote adventure touring and sight-seeing and for venues where access is impassible for traditional buses, but where there are requirements to move lots of people quickly and safely.
The bus body was designed in-house but will be manufactured off-shore by a reputable and experienced bus body builder.
The Scania cab has been integrated into the bus body for a sleek integrated look, and the 320 hp five-cylinder engine 
delivers plenty of punch to pull the vehicle and occupants along the roughest roads Australia has to offer.
On the other side of the stand was an example one of the large fleet of fully electric buses destined for South Australia ordered by that state’s Department for Infrastructure and Transport. The bright green battery electric Scania busses are already in service in SA and are equipped with locally built bodies by Volgren in Melbourne.
“The first of these buses have been in service for around six months and we will be delivering more of these throughout the year. This is one of the largest fleet orders for electric buses in the Scania world, and it demonstrates our commitment to the shift to a more sustainable transport solution,” said Walter.
Alongside both ICE and BEV powered buses the company was also keen to mention the availability of its hybrid powered buses.
“During 2026 we will continue to deliver our Diesel-Electric-Hybrid solution to bus and coach operators, which allows limited range driving on batteries, for instance when in built-up areas or when approaching or departing a route bus stop,” Walter added.
“These hybrids have been popular with Australian operators, and we are looking at the possibility of extending our hybrid offering with a plug-in hybrid solution that could deliver up to 80 km on battery power, in the near future,” he said.
“We have one of the first examples of the new generation Scania “Super 13” engines installed in a coach chassis. This six-cylinder Super range of engines offers a significant reduction in fuel consumption, cleaner exhaust emissions, an extended service life, as well as more power and torque at low revs,” he said.
Harking back to the featured Scania Super 13 chassis Walter emphasised that it also features a new, lighter and smoother-shifting gearbox as well as the latest Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) safety features that include collision warning and vulnerable road users warning, which will be beneficial to operators working in congested urban areas.
“The new Scania digital dashboard also integrates many of the new ADAS technologies as well as providing a large touchscreen for controlling multiple functions, including reversing cameras,” Walter added.
“The arrival of the new Super 13-litre engine family gives us a competitive edge across the market,” Walter said.
“For operators in travel, school, and charter operations, we can deliver even more efficient and sustainable high passenger capacity transport with a lower tare weight.
“The new 14-speed G25CM gearbox is lighter and shorter, with a wider ratio range for better step-off and lower revs at cruising speed, faster and smoother shifting between gears, and improved responsiveness, energy efficient driving, resulting in increased passenger comfort,” he said..
Walter summed up the Scania bus offering bye highlighting the fact that it offers a range of solutions, with arguably the most diverse selection of powertrain and fuel options in the market.
“It enables us to be able to cater to almost every need, and while there has been a lot of commentary about switching to battery electric solutions, we have to be mindful of the commercial reality of operating buses and coaches in Australia in 2026, especially for smaller family-owned businesses,” he said.
“Indeed, the recent significantly higher fuel prices over the past few months will have had many operators focussed on efficiency. These operators cannot afford to jettison fossil fuels and switch immediately to battery solutions,” Walter concluded.
