[mindcrime]

is a key factor behind the steep price hikes and lengthy lead times

I'm not sure I have an opinion on that. Again, I've been away from the fire service for a long time, and there's a lot of issues that I'm probably not fully up-to-date on.

Do you support the custom-build approach?

I have mixed feelings on that, and always have. On the one hand, I do believe that local needs vary a lot from place to place. For example, a rural farming community in Iowa probably genuinely needs things different from, say, San Francisco. But does each department really need to specify every little detail of how their truck is configured? I'm a big proponent of standardization and I sometimes think that people spec'ing fire trucks get too caught in believing "our case is special" when maybe it's not that special after all. So... uh, yeah. I hate to waffle, but it's hard to say for sure.

[Symbiote]

Judging by this article, in a country with fairly standard vehicles the lead time is at least 6 months. The price is lower though, £350,000. I saw recent prices from £250-650k while searching, depending what was purchased.

https://www.northantsfire.gov.uk/2022/05/17/new-engines-0522...