Blue Bird Corp. was the only American school bus manufacturer to attend a first-ever exhibition on school buses held in Beijing last month, and the company said it is exploring partnerships with local companies.

If a light exists at the end of this recessionary tunnel, it is sure taking its sweet time getting here. After a momentary production spike reported in this space last year, total school bus manufacturing output fell again during the recently concluded 2010-2011 production year, this time by more than 25 percent.

The school bus manufacturer is set to display at the NAPT Summit in Cincinnati the new 90-passenger EFX, which resulted from focus groups held at its High Point, N.C., plant over the past year.

Large vehicle manufacturers discuss the state of the industry and how rising costs are affecting supply chains, ongoing relationships with those vendors and solutions for customers in this economy.

The 18th Annual STN EXPO Trade Show started off with a bang Tuesday as Blue Bird was joined by partners Ford and ROUSH CleanTech to display the latest Type C conventional Vision school bus powered by propane autogas and a bigger, faster 6.8L V-10 engine.