DETROIT — Some of the descendants of the family that founded Fisher Body Co. are returning to their roots with Fisher Coachworks LLC, a company formed earlier this year to become a manufacturer of electric-drive buses.

Gregory Fisher, CEO and founder of Fisher Coachworks, along with other investors and several other Fisher family members, have teamed up with Autokinetics Inc. to build a transit bus that weighs less than traditional transit buses and could play a major role in bringing greater fuel efficiency to the mass transportation industry.

“It’s roughly half the weight of existing mass-transit buses on the market today, and with half the weight, and you get roughly twice the mileage,” Fisher said. “Our vehicle uses a patented floor and roof skin that is made out of corrugated stainless steel.”

Autokinetics, an engineering design firm in Rochester Hills, Mich., has spent the last seven years designing the bus, and Fisher Coachworks of Troy, Mich., is gearing up to be the manufacturer. The Fisher Coachworks 40-foot Transit Bus is to be powered by an electric engine with batteries that would be recharged by a diesel generator. The company plans to begin demonstrating the vehicle in about two weeks and hopes to begin production by late 2009.

But while the electrically driven bus appears be exactly the kind of vehicle that the transit industry is moving toward, Fisher Coachworks is still in the fundraising stage.

Plus, when production begins, the Troy-based start-up will face several established competitors, such as Daimler Buses North America Inc. of Greensboro, N.C., and GM-Allison. Both are already producing buses with hybrid systems.

Daimler Buses began developing its hybrid bus, the Orion diesel-electric hybrid, in 1996 and commands about 60 percent of the hybrid market, according to a company presentation. So far, Daimler has delivered 1,300 units and has orders for 1,500 more. The company could not be reached for comment.

In January, GM-Allison announced that it delivered its 1,000th bus powered by the GM-Allison hybrid system. GM-Allison’s clean hybrid technology is licensed by General Motors to Allison Transmission, which manufactures and sells the hybrid transmission for a bus built by North American Bus Industries Inc. of Anniston, Ala.

But Fisher Coachworks claims its bus will get more than twice the miles per gallon of the average hybrid transit bus and says that will give its bus a technological advantage.

“If they were only building exactly what’s out there, it would be a steep hill to climb,” said John Swatosh, deputy director of the Regional Transit Coordinating Council. “But they are looking at some unique features.”

Swatosh emphasizes he isn’t officially endorsing Fisher’s product, but says he is impressed by the plans and is excited about the potential for the company to generate local jobs.

“Their objectives and plans are right on target for what is needed in the industry,” Swatosh said.

With a diesel generator recharging its batteries, Fisher Coachworks expects its bus would get the equivalent of 10 to 12 miles per gallon.

That might not sound like high mileage, but it would be a big step for a bus.

The average transit bus with a traditional engine costs about $350,000 and gets about 3 miles per gallon, according to Fisher Coachworks. The average hybrid/diesel transit bus gets 4 to 5 mpg and costs about $550,000.

“We will be very competitive with that price,” Fisher said.

Fisher said the company has applied for funding with the 21st Century Jobs Fund and would prefer to locate a manufacturing plant in Michigan, but is also considering sites in Tennessee and California.

Fisher Coachworks is looking for a site with about 50,000-square-feet and plans to create about 500 jobs over the first five years in business. In that time, the company aims to grow to $480 million in annual revenue.

“Having a family here in southeastern Michigan, I would like to contribute in my own way toward entrepreneurial development in the state of Michigan,” Fisher said.

Another reason Fisher would like to stay in Michigan is because of the family’s deep history here. Fisher is the grandson of Alfred J. Fisher, one of the original Fisher brothers who on July 22, 1908, formed the Fisher Body Co.

Fisher Body built millions of bodies for General Motors, each of which wore a tiny badge on the body panel just ahead of the front door that said “Body by Fisher.”

The Fisher name is still cited frequently when people talk about the glory days of Detroit’s automotive history. Fisher has brought back the logo, and is using it on the company’s Web site and promotional materials and plans to incorporate it on the bus.

“There is just a lot of heritage and brand equity that we want to associated with,” Fisher said.