IRIZAR has recently won the COACH OF THE YEAR 2004 IN EUROPE award for its IRIZAR PB model on a SCANIA chassis, the high-tech coach it launched during the year 2001. The award aims to recognise the industrial and mechanical excellence of manufacturers who launch new models onto the European market and is generally acknowledged as one of the most important of its kind in the world, due to the meticulousness of
the tests to which all entries are subjected.

The decision of the international judges' panel, which was made up by the directors of leading specialist magazines from fifteen different countries, to award this fourteenth COACH OF THE YEAR award to IRIZAR, together with its partner SCANIA, is a tribute to that company's industrial career and its firm commitment to ongoing innovation. It also confirms IRIZAR as market leader within an industry traditionally dominated by German manufacturers, who have won the award themselves on many occasions.

With the COACH OF THE YEAR IN EUROPE award, the IRIZAR PB model, which won the Spanish Coach of the Year award in 2002, has reinforced the four basic pillars which underlie its design and which distinguish it from other luxury coaches: SAFETY, COMFORT, RELIABILITY and PROFITABILITY. It had no trouble whatsoever passing the technical tests to which it was subjected, along with 4 other competitors, in Italy in May of this year. Among other aspects, we should highlight the Scania Irizar PB's LOW FUEL CONSUMPTION, aerodynamic RESISTANCE and running in, ENERGY EFFICIENCY, excellent HANDLING, high standard of COMFORT and advanced SAFETY PHILOSOPHY, as well as its AESTHETIC DESIGN.