FYI from MCI™

MCI Grand Tour comes home to Canada

The MCI Grand Tour event drew customers from across Canada in June. Mike Dove of Brewster Lines, Banff, Alberta, won the event's grand prize, a six-monitor video LCD retrofit kit from REI, and others won prizes as well, but everyone who attended came away with something valuable: knowledge. MCI experts discussed 2007 engine changes, led workshops and informed customers and guests of model changes, the new LUXE coach and other MCI news. MCI made coaches available for test drives.

MCI's own MCI Sales and Service Center in Montreal was the first to host a Canadian Grand Tour event, on May 17. MCI offered special pricing during the day, along with lunch, information and prizes.

Toronto CAT in Concord, Ontario, was next, on June 6. Vancouver's Western Bus Parts and Service, a longtime service center for MCI coaches, co-hosted the festivities June 15. Calgary CAT hosted its Grand Tour on June 23, along with special guests, the Tennessee Three. Johnny Cash's legendary backup band offered up a short performance along with a glimpse of their equally famous ride: Johnny Cash's black MC9, which was recently restored to its original glory.

In all, nearly 200 guests attended, along with representatives of Motor Coach Canada, which recently announced an alliance with the American Bus Association to form the new North American Motor Coach Alliance. Caterpillar and REI co-sponsored the event as well. In addition to the grand prize, MCI also gave away a Sirius Satellite Radio system with two-year subscription, a website home page makeover, an MCI leather jacket courtesy of ZF Industries, an REI DVD system, Turbo Graphics and Sardo gift certificates, a one-year ABA membership and registration fees to UMA EXPO 2007 in New Orleans at each event.

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