National Express to be rebranded as ‘Mobico’ as the haulage group becomes the last company to abandon its well-known name
- National Express to rename Mobico starting next month; the ticker becomes ‘MCG’
- The new name better reflects the international character of the group, according to the company
- It follows similar steps from Royal Mail and Standard Life Aberdeen
National Express will change its corporate name to Mobico starting next month to reflect its international footprint.
Controversial rebrands have been in vogue in recent years, with the change of Royal Mail to the long-standing International Distribution Services and the rebranding of Standard Life Aberdeen to the arguably incomprehensible Abrdn.
The company, which went public in 1992 as National Express, operates coaches and city buses in Europe, the US and Africa.
However, it will continue to use the well-known National Express name for its British coaches and other businesses in the country.
National Express will continue to be used for the UK national bus network, the group said
It said the new name “better reflects the international character of the group and its diverse range of mobility services” as it looks to establish itself as “the world’s leading provider of shared mobility”.
“While National Express is a highly valued consumer brand, Mobico better represents our multimodal operations, our global reach and our future ambitions,” said CEO Ignacio Garat.
The rebranding will also not affect the group’s operating subsidiaries, such as The Kings Ferries coaches on Kent and West Midlands buses, which will also ‘retain their well-known customer-focused brands’.
All ‘significant’ brand names used in the group’s international operations, including Alsa, WeDriveU, Peterman and Durham School Services, will also be retained.
“The new company name does not entail any operational or structural changes for the group or any of its subsidiaries and will be implemented in a cost-effective manner,” National Express added.
Once the name change takes effect next month, the group will change its trade ticket from NEX to MCG.
The rebrand follows similar steps from Standard Life Aberdeen, among others, which changed its name to Abrdn two years ago in an effort to modernize the company. It became the subject of some industry derision at the time of the announcement.
In a similar move, Royal Mail changed its longstanding name to International Distributions Services last October.
At the time, it said it better reflected the structure of two separate companies: the British company, Royal Mail, and the German company, GLS.
Hermes, the UK’s largest parcel carrier, also rebranded as Evri in March last year in a bid to leave the past behind after complaints of mishandled parcels and poor customer service.