Motor Coach Emerges From Bankruptcy Protection

Sorrells, in an interview, said there were no layoffs or lost business during the bankruptcy protection.

Sorrells, speaking by phone from a transportation trade show in Toronto, said MCI has more than 50 percent of the market in North America, while three other companies compete for the remainder.

"We have a very good balance sheet now," he said. "We feel really good about where we sit and a lot better about where we'll sit tomorrow."

MCI makes big buses for public transportation and motor coaches that are used as luxury RVs. At its peak in the mid-1990s, the Pembina bus plant had more than 800 people on the payroll.

Patricia Ziska, an MCI vice president, said the company now employs about 1,920 people, most of whom work at the company's main plant in Winnipeg, Canada, 60 miles north of Pembina.

The company uses the Pembina bus plant to satiate conditions of the federal Buy America Act, which requires buses involved in federal contracts be produced in the U.S.

Bus sales have been flat, with anticipated sales this year of 850 to 1,000 vehicles, Ziska said. The company has averaged more than 1,200 bus sales annually in recent years, she said.