New Flyer Announces Expansion of Winnipeg Parts Business and New Product Development Centre, Creating a “New Flyer Campus”

On January 23, 2013, the world’s second largest bus builder, Brazilian headquartered Marcopolo S.A. agreed to invest $116M to acquire a 19.99% interest in New Flyer.  With the Marcopolo cash infusion and a renewed credit facility, New Flyer immediately executed two strategic acquisitions within four months:

• March 1, 2013: New Flyer acquired the parts business of Orion, owned by Daimler Bus North America with facilities in Mississauga, ON and Oriskany, NY, and
• June 21, 2013: New Flyer acquired Anniston, AL-based transit bus and parts business called North American Bus Industries (or NABI) from an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, LP.

Today, New Flyer announces:

1. The addition of 30 new full-time positions to the Winnipeg-based New Flyer aftermarket parts business unit,
2. Financial assistance of up to $300,000 from the Province of Manitoba through the Industry Workforce Development Branch of Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade to support on-boarding skills of new positions as well as training to increase skill-sets of 75 existing workers to assist with individual development and career advancement opportunities, and
3. The execution of a long-term lease with the Palliser group for office, shop and warehouse space adjacent to the New Flyer main Winnipeg plant that will be the new home for expanded New Flyer Aftermarket Parts, Publications, Customer Training and New Product Development (“NPD”) teams.

Paul Soubry, President and CEO of New Flyer explained, “We were looking to improve our customer service and enhance our cost competitiveness.  We assessed a number of options to consolidate and pursue synergies in the Aftermarket Parts business functions of planning, sourcing, purchasing and customer service. We could have gone to Toronto, the US or expanded in Winnipeg.”

Soubry further explained, “Working to a very tight timeline and with great support from Yes!Winnipeg, we were able to fast track our analysis to select Winnipeg to expand for two primary reasons: Firstly, New Flyer’s core business was here allowing us to sustain and create new jobs, and secondly, with some creativity and support from the Province of Manitoba, we found a way to make the economics work.  We’re really excited about creating a New Flyer Campus that reduces the number of Winnipeg facilities – first from five buildings to three – and now down to just two. We believe that this campus approach can facilitate communication, collaboration and internal networking between all New Flyer business groups here in Winnipeg.”

New Flyer’s current NPD facility has been in the same location for nearly 20 years and has become undersized for the scope and scale of current and proposed bus development projects and emerging technologies. The expanded NPD scope will also include a production engineering test group which is currently using borrowed space from a transit customer in Phoenix, AZ.

“We are privileged to have the support of the Manitoba government, as well as ongoing support and partnerships from several educational institutions and non-profit technical support agencies,” said Janice Harper, New Flyer Vice President of Human Resources. “Promoting the development of our highly-skilled workforce in world-class facilities is part of the New Flyer mandate and we appreciate that our continued growth and development would not be possible without this support.”

The transition of New Flyer’s Technical Publications and Customer Training departments into the new space has now been completed. The remaining teams affected will relocate over the next four months.

About New Flyer 
New Flyer is a leading manufacturer of heavy-duty transit buses in Canada and the United States. The Company is the industry technology leader and offers the broadest product line including drive systems powered by: clean diesel, natural gas and electric trolley as well as energy-efficient diesel-electric hybrid vehicles. All buses are supported by an industry-leading comprehensive warranty and support program, and service network. New Flyer and NABI also operate the transit industry’s most sophisticated aftermarket parts organization, sourcing parts from hundreds of different suppliers and providing support for all types of heavy-duty transit buses.

Together New Flyer and NABI employ over 3,000 team members with manufacturing, fabrication, parts distribution and service centers in both Canada and the United States. Further information is available on New Flyer’s web site at www.www.newflyer.com.

The common shares and convertible unsecured subordinated debentures of the Company are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols NFI and NFI.DB.U, respectively.

Forward-Looking Statements 
This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to expected future events and financial and operating results of the Company that involve risks and uncertainties. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, investors cannot be assured that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements, and the differences may be material. Actual results may differ materially from management expectations as projected in such forward-looking statements for a variety of reasons, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in the materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Due to the potential impact of these factors, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law.

For further information, please contact: 
Jon Koffman
Investor Relations
Tel: 204-224-6672