Are the vehicles being purchased by the council?
I thought in the case of Kernow, all the e400mmc were bought and specified by First Kernow with no council involvement. They then had the e200mmc of which four were Kernow purchased and the remainder were council owned but all specified by FK.
It might be a) the report of City400 was erroneous or b) that e400mmc is for Plymouth not Cornwall or c) they have changed their mind. Certainly, the e400city that First Bristol have got some issues in terms of build quality; as
@baza585 wittily said the other week, the e400city in Southampton "creak like an old barge"