Green means go for bus maker.

• Position: Triad - Interview

In business since 1916, Thomas Built Buses has a well-known brand but faces significant challenges. Domestic sales for all school-bus manufacturers have fallen each year since 2006. Just 32,632 were sold in 2009, down 24% from 2000. High Point-based Thomas Built, now part of German automaker Daimler AG, expected to produce 10,000 to 12,000 buses in 2010. It recently started exporting again after a five-year hiatus. Kelley Platt, 52, a Duke University MBA grad, took over as CEO at the beginning of 2010.

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Why did the company stop exporting?

Mainly because there was way too much business in the U.S. Exchange rates being what they were, exports of commercial vehicles, in general, from the U.S. to other countries declined significantly.

Why did it start exporting again?

The U.S. dollar is at some historic low levels, which makes any type of exports much more viable, as well as the fact that the domestic commercial-vehicle industry has declined significantly in the last couple years.

You've gotten better-than-expected demand for environmentally friendlier buses, including hybrids and those that use compressed natural gas. Why?

There's a growing concern in the U.S. about the emissions environment and what vehicles are doing, so people are looking for alternatives. That has been fueled to a large extent by funding available from the U.S. government to help offset some of the cost of alternative-powered vehicles.

What happens if that federal money goes away or shrinks significantly?

With diesel fuel at $3 a gallon and some of the components for alternative-powered vehicles so expensive, you can't write a business case to buy environmentally friendly buses just because of fuel...