Brand
Prevost
Prevost is a bus maker based in Sainte-Claire, Quebec, and founded in 1924. It builds passenger coaches for tour, intercity and commuter service. It also builds bus shells with nearly empty cabins that outside companies, called converters, finish as luxury motorhomes and entertainer coaches. Prevost has been wholly owned by Sweden's Volvo since 2004, after nine years of joint ownership with Britain's Henlys Group.
Photo: Prevost-Stuff · All rights reserved
Models
H3-45 VIP
Bus conversion
X3-45 VIP
Bus conversion
XLII
Bus conversion
XL-45
Bus conversion
Le Mirage XL
Bus conversion
H3-40 VIP
Bus conversion
Le Mirage
Bus conversion
History
Prevost began in 1924 in Sainte-Claire, Quebec. Eugène Prévost was a cabinetmaker who made church pews and school furniture. That year he was asked to build a wooden coach body and mount it on a new REO truck chassis. The company built its first bus plant in Sainte-Claire in 1937, and in 1945 it introduced its first all-metal body over an all-metal frame.
In 1957 Paul Normand bought the company, and it was renamed Prevost Car. Its business was passenger coaches: buses sold to the companies that run tours and intercity routes. The 1966 Champion had three axles, a split-level floor and air conditioning. Prevost describes it as the first North American coach with an integral structure. That means the frame and body are one welded unit, not a body set on a separate chassis. Wikipedia says the Champion was the first Prevost marketed in the United States. BUSRide reports that at about that time Prevost opened its first US sales and service centers, in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and Los Angeles.
The motorhome business grew out of the bus business. In 1969 two American businessmen, Thomas B. Harbison and William G. Campbell, formed a partnership with André Normand to own Prevost. Both were longtime motorhome owners. In 1970 the first Champion conversion shell left the assembly line. A conversion shell is a bus built with a nearly empty cabin so that another company can finish the inside. In 1978 Prevost showed its first Le Mirage conversion shell at the Family Motor Coach Association meeting. Harbison and Campbell had helped engineer it.
In 1984 Prevost moved to a 102-inch-wide body with the Le Mirage XL and the Prevost XL, sold both as passenger coaches and as conversion shells. A second line, the H-Series, began in 1985 with the H5-60, a 60-foot articulated bus. BUSRide's timeline says the H3-40 followed in 1989, both as a touring coach and as a shell for conversion. In 1992 came the 45-foot XL-45, introduced for traveling entertainers. Prevost's motorhome history page says that in 1993 it launched the H3-41 and H3-45 touring coaches together with the H3-45 VIP, a bus shell for high-end conversion.
In 1995 Volvo of Sweden and Henlys Group of Britain took joint ownership of Prevost. In October 2004 Volvo agreed to buy the Henlys half for 83 million US dollars, a price that included two loans Henlys had made to the company. Prévost Car Inc., which by then also held the Nova Bus city-bus brand, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Volvo Bus Corporation. Volvo's filing at the time described Prevost as a maker of coaches and of bus shells for luxury mobile homes.
The XL line was followed by the Le Mirage XLII, which went into production in January 2000 and was given a facelift in 2004. Prevost launched the X3-45 in 2006. Engines changed too. Wikipedia says the Volvo D13 replaced the Detroit Diesel Series 60 for the 2008 model year, and BUSRide reported that in 2010 Prevost announced all of its vehicles would use the D13.
Prevost still builds passenger coaches. Its 2023 H3-45 seats 56 and its X3-45 seats 55, and it added a commuter version of the X3-45 in 2011. For motorhomes it offers two shells, the H3-45 VIP and the X3-45 VIP. Both are 45 feet long and 102 inches wide, with a 500-horsepower Volvo D13 engine, an Allison six-speed automatic transmission and optional factory slide-outs.
Prevost does not finish motorhomes itself. Its motorhome website names five converter partners that do: Marathon Coach, Liberty Coach, Emerald Luxury Coaches, Millennium Luxury Coaches and Featherlite Coaches. Prevost shells are also finished as entertainer coaches for touring performers. Wikipedia says the two heavily modified buses the US Secret Service introduced in 2011 are X3-45 VIP shells fitted out by Hemphill Brothers Coach Company of Nashville.
Prevost introduced a redesigned H3-45 in 2023 and marked its 100th year in 2024. Its main factory is still in Sainte-Claire.
Timeline
Eugène Prévost, a cabinetmaker who made church pews and school furniture, is commissioned to build a wooden coach body and mount it on a new REO truck chassis.
The company builds a bus manufacturing plant in Sainte-Claire, Quebec.
Paul Normand acquires the business and renames it Prevost Car Inc.
Prevost introduces the Champion, which it describes as the first North American coach with an integral structure. It has three axles, a split-level floor and air conditioning.
Thomas B. Harbison and William G. Campbell, two American businessmen, form a partnership with André Normand to own Prevost.
The first Champion conversion shell leaves the assembly line.
Prevost unveils the Le Mirage, with side windows that wrap up into the roof.
The first Le Mirage conversion shell is introduced at the Family Motor Coach Association meeting. Co-owners Thomas Harbison and William Campbell, both longtime motorhome owners, contributed to its engineering.
Prevost introduces the Le Mirage XL and the Prevost XL, which it calls the first 102-inch wide-body coaches and conversion shells in North America.
Prevost introduces the H5-60, a 60-foot articulated bus for 72 passengers and the first of its H-Series.
Prevost launches the H3-40 touring coach, along with H3-40 bus shells for high-end conversion.
Prevost introduces the 45-foot XL-45 for traveling entertainers.
Prevost launches the H3-41 and H3-45 touring coaches and the H3-45 VIP bus shell.
Volvo of Sweden and Henlys Group of the United Kingdom acquire joint ownership of Prevost.
Production of the Le Mirage XLII starts in January.
In October, Volvo agrees to buy Henlys Group's half of Prévost Car Inc. for 83 million US dollars, a price that includes two loans Henlys had made to the company. Prevost is to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Volvo Bus Corporation.
Prevost launches the X3-45, which it says has the longest wheelbase in the industry.
Prevost announces that all of its vehicles will be built with the Volvo D13 engine.
Prevost introduces an all-new H3-45.
Prevost marks the 100th anniversary of Eugène Prévost's first wooden coach.
Sources
- Our Story | Prevost Motorhomes
- Why Prevost | Prevost Motorhomes
- Motorhome Converters | Prevost Motorhomes
- Free Resources | Prevost Motorhomes
- Prevost H3-45 VIP Specification 2023 (PDF)
- Prevost H3-45 VIP Specification 10.2023 (PDF)
- H3-45 VIP Specification Highlights, 03/21 (PDF)
- Prevost X3-45 VIP Specification 2023 (PDF)
- Prevost H3-45 Specification 2023, passenger coach (PDF)
- Prevost X3-45 Specification 2023, passenger coach (PDF)
- Top 15 Features Exclusive to a Prevost (PDF brochure, 2017)
- Volvo takes over Prévost and Nova Bus | Volvo Group press release, 18 October 2004
- AB Volvo Form 6-K, October 2004 | US Securities and Exchange Commission
- Volvo becomes sole owner of Prevost, Nova | METRO Magazine, 18 October 2004
- Prevost Celebrates 100 Years | Volvo Group, January 2024
- Prevost Celebrates 95 Years | Volvo Group, August 2019
- Prevost Celebrates 100 Years | BUSRide, 5 January 2024
- Prevost celebrates its first 90 years | BUSRide, 1 February 2014
- Prevost (bus manufacturer) | Wikipedia
- Prevost H-Series | Wikipedia
- Prevost X-Series | Wikipedia
- Motorhome Clubs | Prevost Motorhomes
- Prevost For Sale | Prevost-Stuff
- Prevost recalls by model | Justia