THOMAS BUILT BUSES, INC.
HIGH POINT, NC

Thomas Built Buses presents Facts About Fuels Thomas Built Buses presents Facts About Fuels Based on EPA regulated emissions, diesel is comparable to or even cleaner than other fuel types. Diesel emissions are 90% cleaner than they were in 2006. Thomas Built Buses exceed EPA and greenhouse gas standards for: 60 of today’s Saf-T-Liner® C2 school buses produce fewer combined emissions than one school bus from 2002. Thomas Built Buses can thank their relationship with Daimler AG for many innovations. Daimler is the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, which launched the first diesel car in 1936. Low emissions. Best-in-class fuel efficiency. A low total cost of ownership. Thomas Built Buses is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, a Daimler company and the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America. That gives Thomas Built the backing and resources to continually research innovative solutions and respond to the needs of our customers. The resulting full line of driver-friendly school, activity, commercial, and childcare buses is manufactured and produced in High Point, North Carolina, and sold through independently owned dealerships throughout North America. All of our dealers, along with the entire Thomas Built team, place a high priority on maintaining a spirit of customer care. Even small details can make a big difference. From start to finish, we are focused on delivering a superior customer experience. That means paying attention to the smallest detail in order to help improve safety and reliability. It means training customers to service their own buses. And it means being ready to offer support whenever and wherever it’s needed. Every mile matters. We are customer-focused and approach design, manufacturing and service with an understanding of the daily challenges our customers face. We help find the best solutions when budgets are tight. We provide durability and efficiency, which are vital to long-term ownership. We want to make maintenance as easy and cost-effective as possible. And most important, we want drivers and passengers to be safe on each and every mile of their route. All of this matters to us at Thomas. Those are Thomas Built values. We welcome you to also read more about our parent company, Daimler. Thomas Built Buses manufactures vehicles in an environmentally responsible manner and views sustainable manufacturing as a crucial aspect of its corporate vision to be a good community partner, corporate citizen and steward of our cherished natural resources. Thomas was the first school bus manufacturer to achieve Zero-Waste-to-Landfill operations, an effort that demonstrates the company’s commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility. With our Zero-Waste-to-Landfill operations, solar panels and a growing list of Clean Drive Technologies, Thomas Built has a commitment to sustainability you can see in our people, our products and our processes. With buses that are green from the ground up as well as inside and out, we have made Thomas Built Buses the leading sustainable school bus manufacturer. And that’s just one more reason to put your children on a Thomas Built bus. A company with a rich history and a bright future. The history of Thomas Built Buses reads much like the history of modern mass transportation. It begins in 1916 in the small North Carolina city of High Point. Economic hard times created by World War I forced the closing of Southern Car Works, a major streetcar manufacturer based in High Point. Canadian-born car designer Perley A. Thomas lost his job as chief engineer for the company, but a few months later was contacted by Southern Public Utilities Company and asked to consider putting together a crew to renovate several streetcars he had designed for his former employer. By the late 1930s, cars and buses were beginning to make streetcar transportation obsolete. Perley A. Thomas Car Works adapted, and in 1936 ceased production of streetcars and launched a new product: school buses. As the 1940s began, Perley Thomas continued to provide his design skills to the company even as he began turning over day-to-day operation of the business to his children. He actively served as a design consultant to the business until his death in 1958 at the age of 84. Thomas’s children and grandchildren proved to be worthy business leaders and smart bus designers and by the early 1960s the Thomas Car Works had built a national reputation in the school bus business. In 1972, to reflect better its core business, the company changed its name to Thomas Built Buses. In 1977 Thomas introduced its first bus chassis and began producing the popular Saf-T-Liner® transit-style bus. Thomas expanded to manufacture a smaller school bus, the Minotour®, and in the 1980s entered the commercial transit market. In 1998, Thomas Built Buses became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Freightliner LLC, a Daimler company. The strength of Freightliner LLC, now known as Daimler Trucks North America LLC, has helped Thomas Built Buses grow and adapt to changes in the transportation industry. In 2004 Thomas added a 275,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art plant in High Point to manufacture the Saf-T-Liner® C2. The C2 was designed from the ground up for superior durability, reliability and safety. Due to rapid adoption of the Saf-T-Liner C2 by the market, in November 2006, Thomas manufactured its last FS-65 conventional bus and retired the product. Leveraging the success of the C2 and responding to customer demand for green technology, Thomas Built Buses introduced the hybrid Saf-T-Liner C2e in 2007. Also in 2009, Thomas Built Buses launched its new MyBus® Type A product, specifically designed for childcare and activity centers, service organizations and churches. MyBus is available in three models. In 2011, Thomas Built Buses became the first school bus manufacturer to achieve Zero-Waste-to-Landfill operations, demonstrating its industry leadership as a driving force in facility waste management and environmental commitment. Since then, Thomas Built Buses also has developed the C2 Propane and C2 CNG, which allow customers to determine which fuel best fits their needs.