Contact: fred.ligouri@daimlertruck.com

HIGH POINT, N.C. – April 15, 2022 – Thomas Built Buses (TBB) recognized the company’s Dealers of the Year at its annual President’s Club awards program earlier this week. The overall 2021 Dealer of the Year award was presented to Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing, Inc., a full-service dealer offering sales, parts and vehicle service in Silver Lake, Ind. This represents the third win for their team since the inception of the awards in 1986.

“Our Dealer of the Year awards continue to recognize and celebrate the hard work and challenges many of our dealers have faced during the last several years as they continue to promote and sell our leading lineup of buses. To our Dealer of the Year, we offer special congratulations for a job well done,” said Kevin Bangston, president and CEO of TBB. “Melanie Zehr, Cliff Zehr and their team at Kerlin understand that a quality customer experience is a result of a strong employee experience, which can only be created through effective leadership and consistent dedication to education and opportunity.

“In their more than 60 years of operational excellence, Kerlin continues to be recognized as an industry leader in not only exceptional service, support and training for their customers, but the transition to new and burgeoning technologies like zero-emission vehicles,” continued Bangston. “Not only do they promote and sell the full lineup of TBB products, they lead in each category, having become the training leaders in the state as they worked to further educate nearly 200 technicians.”

In addition to Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing, Inc., Thomas Built Buses also recognized President’s Club and President’s Club Platinum award winners who achieved key performance indicators for the year. A dealer must reach the President’s Club Platinum level to qualify as the Dealer of the Year for its region. Winners included:

President’s Club

• Autobus Thomas, Inc., Drummondville, Quebec
• Boyd Company, Louisville, Ky.
• Hoekstra Transportation, Inc., Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Matheny Motor Truck Company, Mineral Wells, W.Va.
• Schetky Northwest Sales, Inc., Portland, Ore.
• The Bus Centre, Acheson, Alberta
• Thomas Bus Sales of Georgia, Forest Park, Ga.
• Truck Center Companies, Omaha, Neb.

President’s Club Platinum

• American Bus Sales & Service, Inc., Annapolis, Md.
• BusWest, Inc., Carson, Calif.
• Carolina Thomas, LLC, Greensboro, N.C.
• Interstate Transportation Equipment, Inc., Hopkins, S.C.
• Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing, Inc., Silver Lake, Ind.
• Matthews Bus Alliance, Orlando, Fla.
• Mid-South Bus Center, Inc., Murfreesboro, Tenn.
• Nesco Bus & Truck Sales, Inc., Bay Shore, N.Y.
• New England Transit Sales, Inc., Tyngsborough, Mass.
• Sonny Merryman, Inc., Evington, Va.
• Transportation South, Inc., Pelham, Ala.
• W.C. Cressey & Son, Inc., Kennebunk, Maine

Dealer of the Year Regional Winners

• Midwest Region: Kerlin Bus Sales & Leasing, Inc., Silver Lake, Ind.
• Northeast Region: New England Transit Sales, Inc., Tyngsborough, Mass.
• Southeast Region: Matthews Bus Alliance, Orlando, Fla.
• Southern Region: Sonny Merryman, Inc., Evington, Va.
• Western Region: BusWest, Inc., Carson, Calif.

About Thomas Built Buses

Founded in 1916, Thomas Built Buses is a leading manufacturer of school buses in North America. Since the first Thomas Built bus rolled off the assembly line, the company has been committed to delivering the smartest and most innovative buses in North America. Learn more at https://thomasbuiltbuses.com or at https://www.facebook.com/thomasbuiltbuses.

Thomas Built Buses, Inc., headquartered in High Point, N.C., is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck North America LLC, a leading provider of comprehensive products and technologies for the commercial transportation industry. The company designs, engineers, manufactures and markets medium- and heavy-duty trucks, school buses, vehicle chassis and their associated technologies and components under the Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp and Detroit brands. Daimler Truck North America is a subsidiary of Daimler Truck Holding AG (DTG), one of the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers.