Why isn't the (Top)sky blue?

I generally try to limit my postings here to one per weekday so that I don't cross the line into obsession or burnout, but occasionally something will stand out as obnoxious enough that I feel the need to get to it right away. (Besides which, I may not have time for an update tomorrow).

Our good friend Dixon, whom we just met earlier today, is flogging the cover story in the June 2005 issue of BUSRide magazine, which makes significant mention of the Setra S 417, a bus which, among other features, includes a transparent "panorama" roof under the branding of TopSky.

I mentioned TopSky way back in the early days of this blog as REFR and SPD's closest flirtation with legitimacy in the marketplace. The version shown back then had an automatic dimming feature which employed SPD technology. After a couple of months, the whole business faded away, and the supplier of SPD for Setra, SPD Inc., shut down.

Now, it's well-established that, despite allegedly promising noises that the new generation of SPD suppliers are well into the testing phase of SPD production runs, no company is actually producing SPD film on a commerical basis at this time. So how, one might ask, can Setra be making busses with the TopSky feature, without any SPD film available?

The answer is simple. TopSky is, and always was, about the roof itself, not any dimming capability. And it seems to be turning out that bus passengers are quite happy with the transparent roof even without the ability to vary the tinting.

In short, Setra, and its parent, Daimler-Chrysler, are getting along just fine without the assistance of the SPD "industry", and the BUSRide article, much as Dixon seems to believe otherwise, only helps to prove it.

Better luck next time.