At home on the road: the most stylish tour bus in all of Sweden is an Actros
Vehicle & Technology
Dance band Donnez has the most stylish, most luxurious tour bus in the country. A Mercedes-Benz Actros with nine beds and so many details that it would be difficult to list them all.
Unique. Donnez is the first Swedish dance band to have converted a truck into a tour bus.
Donnez is among Sweden's most-booked dance acts. This year, the band spent 200 days on the road and had 170 gigs. And that's why the tour bus is extremely important to the musicians. "The new bus has made everything much easier for us," explains Donald ("Donne") Laitila who founded the band 17 years ago in the Swedish town of Perstorp. "We've got everything that we need for travelling and living between gigs."
Donnez's new bus is actually built on the basis of a new Mercedes-Benz Actros chassis with GigaSpace cab and 420 hp Euro VI engine. The chassis was delivered by Hedins and the body from EHC in Germany, all in accordance with sketches which Donnez came up with in collaboration with Mårtenssons Bil in Hörby.
The bus was split into three distinct areas. In front of the load area is a separate living area equipped with a shower room and toilet. In the front section of the bus is the driving area featuring a complete and fully-equipped kitchen. Here, there is also a slide-out living room. When the bus is parked, this allows it to be made wider. The living room is equipped with sofas, a fold-out television and a control panel for sound, lights, air conditioning, heating and Wi-Fi.
The remaining beds are located on a small sleeping loft which can be raised and whose pop-up function means it is impressively spacious. "When planning the bus, we thought lots about the design, about which functions and comfort it should offer us."
"Then we spoke with Mårtenssons Bil. The company is a long-term conversion specialist for buses for equestrian elites and racing stables. There are many similarities. We also looked at how loading and stowage spaces or other practical functions are implemented in boats."
The load area was specifically designed for our application. It features a loading system with a container. This allows boxes and instruments to be loaded. These can then be raised up to the ceiling so that further loads can be store underneath them. That saves a massive amount of space and also a lot of heavy lifting.
The tour bus is also especially well-insulated so that the band can still go on tour even in the frosty temperatures of Sweden's winter. The whole bus is equipped with underfloor heating, even in the load area. A power unit generates electricity with a voltage of 220 V, among other things for powering the air-conditioning system, the hob and the TV. There's even a central vacuum unit.
Donnez is the first Swedish dance band to have converted a truck into a tour bus. After a good two months on the road, the band now has 9000 km on the clock of their new gem.
At a price of more than 4.5 million Swedish krona, the bus wasn't cheap, but a suitable service contract ensures that the band always has a good overview of the vehicle's running costs. This allows them to attribute the costs to specific gigs.
Simple loading and unloading. In the heated load area, there is a hydraulic loading system which ensures that the band can load their equipment on two levels.
"Previously, we had a converted goods transport bus from 1997. There was always something that needed repairing on it when we got back home. The maintenance cost almost 300,000 krona. And when you're on the road as much as we are, you want your free time back at home to actually be free and not to be spent bringing the bus to the workshop."
"We've had the bus for around two months now," explains Donne, adding: "It's great. The hot topic of conversation among Swedish dance bands is always: 'What's broken on your tour bus this time around?' Thankfully, that's no longer relevant for us now."
When Donnez is on the road north of Stockholm, there's always a driver on-board with them. For appearances south of Stockholm, the two guitarists, Martin Nilsson and Micke Strömqvist, split the driving.
Spacious. A "slide-out" living room provides space for the entire band to relax.
"The bus drives really well and it feels great on the road. Thanks to the steered rear axle, even tight spaces are fine and you can turn around with ease," explains Micke, with Martin adding: "I drove trucks for several years. And I have to say, that Mercedes-Benz has come a long way. The driving characteristics make it really fun being on the road in the bus. It's easy to drive and has all types of accessories imaginable, from integrated reversing cameras to automatic braking systems. Even parking side-on in tight spots is problem-free!"
The vehicle has been dubbed the most stylish, most elegant tour bus. And it will probably be a while before anyone tries to take that star away from Donnez's tour bus.
Photos: Stefan Nilsson
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24 comments
Viel Spaß und gute Fahrt 👍
Viel Spaß und gute Fahrt 👍
... den würd ich auch als Privatfahrzeug nehmen 😉😄😄😄
... den würd ich auch als Privatfahrzeug nehmen 😉😄😄😄
Gruss
Andreas
Gruss
Andreas
Gruß
Klaus
Gruß
Klaus
Bestimmt jeder träumt davon 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
Bestimmt jeder träumt davon 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍