Produced: 1996 - 2001
At the time when low-floor buses were first gaining popularity in France, large stakes in Heuliez were owned by both Renault and Volvo. Heuliez worked with Renault in the production of the first all-French low-floor bus, the GX317, and, given the large stake in the company that was owned by Volvo, it made sense to also offer the Heuliez low-floor body on Volvo chassis. At the time, Volvo did not have any sort of a presence in the French city bus market, so the chance to sell buses in France under a recognisably French banner was clearly what had attracted Volvo to buy into the Heuliez business.
SEMURVAL,
Valenciennes no. 145 (1674 YF 59) - May 2000
The conurbation of Valenciennes consists of a group of towns clustered
together, close to the Belgian border in the far North of France. It's one of
those places that few seem to have heard of, however for bus enthusiasts it's
well worth a visit to see the varied and brightly painted fleet of local
operator SEMURVAL. SEMURVAL run both GX217s and GX317s and they can be hard to
tell apart. 145 is a 1997-built GX217.
Le SUB (CGFTE),
Nancy no. 313 (6313 YB 54) - September 2001
Another diesel-powered GX217, a two-door example belonging to the Nancy
'green fleet'. Nancy have diesel-powered GX217s and GX417s in the suburban fleet
and gas-powered GX217s and GX417s in the urban fleet.
GX317-style bodies soon appeared mounted on Volvo's B10L underframes, sold as Heuliez GX217s. From the front the GX217 looks much the same as the Renault-based GX317, however the Volvo underframe has a longitudinal engine tilted at an angle and mounted under the floor, so the rear end layout is completely different to that on the transverse-engined GX317. The buses carry (very) small Volvo lettering on the front, but also carry much larger Heuliez lettering. Two- and three- door versions are available. Generally operators have tended to buy either the Volvo-based GX217 or the Renault-based GX317, however in a few fleets both can be found. This can be quite confusing given their similarity!
Since the Volvo B10L is also available as an artic, Heuliez also set about developing an articulated version of the GX217 which emerged as the GX417. GX417s come in three- or four-door layout and again carry very small Volvo lettering on the front end.
SEMURVAL,
Valenciennes no. 135 (9926 XR 59) - May 2000
The best way to distinguish between Heuliez' Renault-based GX317 and the
Volvo-based GX217 is to look at the back end - the GX217 has a completely
different design of rear with a much lower-set rear window. GX417s also have
this rear end design. This is another of SEMURVAL's buses, 1996-built no. 135.
Note the tiny Volvo badging just above the offside light cluster - the Volvo
name is completely dwarfed by the Heuliez branding below the rear window.
T2C,
Clermont Ferrand no. 62 (8154 WA 63) - September 2000
Clermont Ferrand have thirteen
GX417 artics in their fleet, along with twelve GX217s and a lone GX217GNV
delivered for trials. No. 62 is seen loading in the city centre.
In recent years, Heuliez has been keen to encourage operators to buy 'clean' buses, and a Compressed Natural Gas-powered version of the GX217 appeared at a fairly early stage. These can be found in a number of towns, with reasonably-sized fleets at work in Bordeaux, Nice, Nantes and Montbéliard. If anything, gas-powered GX217s are more common than their diesel-powered counterparts, although gas-powered GX417s were only ever supplied to Nancy. In 2000 Heuliez went one step further with their green-fuelled range, actually dropping the diesel-powered versions of the GX217 and GX417 from their catalogue.
However, this state of affairs was to be short-lived. The major reshuffle that followed the sale of Renault's bus-building business to Iveco (and the subsequent formation of Irisbus) also saw Volvo sell its shareholding in Heuliez (which became a wholly Irisbus-owned business). With Volvo no longer a stakeholder in the Heuliez business, production of the GX217 and GX417 promptly ceased.
STAN (CGFTE), Nancy no. 511
(5880 YE 54) - September 2001
Nancy invested heavily in a fleet of gas-powered Volvo/Heuliez buses (34
GX417GNVs and 3 GX217GNVs) only a matter of months before the models were
abruptly axed from the Heuliez range. The new buses also introduced a new livery
and new identity (STAN) for the Nancy urban fleet. This was intended to be
followed by the introduction into service of Nancy's new 'rubber-tyred tram',
however these suffered major teething troubles and the many of the new GX417GNVs
spent their early lives deputising for the trams. STAN 511 is one of the Nancy
GX417GNVs - all have three doorways (a fourth door in the rear overhang is
optional).
CTPM, Montbéliard no. 44
(1773 WY 25) - September 2001
Another fleet to invest in gas-powered buses was Montbéliard - no. 44 is
one of sixteen three-door GX217GNVs at work in the town. Many entered service in
plain white livery without full CTPM graphics, however this one was one of those
to receive full livery.