Newell has had the advantage of being owned by Mr. and Mrs. Newell, then Karl and Alice Blade since its inception in 1967 although there have been some additional investments made in the company by others.
Blue Bird was family-owned until 1992. Since then they have been owned by some of the management of the company with financial backing from Merrill Lynch Capital Partners. From 1999 to 2004, Blue Bird was owned by the British Henlys Group and the Volvo Group. Henlys ran into financial difficulties and in the fall of 2004, Blue Bird became the "sole operating subsidiary" of Peach County Holdings Inc which consisted of 42.5% owned by Henlys creditors, 42.5% by the Volvo Group and 15% by Henlys' "pension scheme" and Blue Bird's management. In 2004, they filed bankruptcy and were bought by Cerberus Capital Management.
In July of 2007, the Blue Bird Coachworks and Blue Bird Wanderlodge were purchased by Complete Coach Works of Riverside, California. Since the purchase, Complete Coach Works (CCW) has built a couple of Wanderlodges at the Fort Valley, Georgia plant and have a couple more partially complete awaiting a buyer to select the amenities and colors they want. They are building a number of transit buses at this time. This is a difficult time for all coach manufacturers and Blue Bird is certainly no exception. CCW assumed responsibility for the warranty on existing Wanderlodges.
With the several years of financial trouble some of the 'old hands' at Blue Bird left. This is a difficult situation for any company trying to support old coaches. The newer employees know the newer coaches but without the knowledge base of the old timers it becomes more difficult to support the older models. As an example, when I had some questions regarding my basement air conditioners, I talked to Cressley Clark at Newell. He told me that he had installed the air conditioners in my coach 17 years ago. That type of knowledge is invaluable.
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