In the latest twist of the British coachbuilding industry, Darwen, formerly East Lancs Coachbuilds, has agreed to take over Optare in a deal of GBP 16 million.
Both manufacturers were owned by the same owner , with ELC bought out in last August after it went bankrupted and Optare sold its entire share in March this year.
The takeover will be formally completed by next month and the new group will be traded as Optare, so I assume all Drawen/ELC products will be rebranded accordingly - and this will bring a double deck bodywork into the Optare brand after the Spectra was out of production a few years ago.
