Mercedes-Benz has been producing buses since 1895 in Mannheim in Germany. Since 1995 Mercedes-Benz buses and coaches are known by the brand name of Daimler Buses (formerly EvoBus GmbH), a wholly owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck.
Heritage The world's first motorised bus was built in Germany by Karl Benz in 1895, some years before Gottlieb Daimler also started to build and sell buses in Germany as well. By 1898, both Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler, then rivals, were exporting their buses to Wales and England. Soon, Daimler products were sold in the British Empire in a partnership with the British company Milnes. Milnes-Daimler developed a double-decker in 1902 and provided a bus for the first motorised bus service in the United Kingdom the following year. Though the company met success in selling buses throughout the British Empire, the partnership between Daimler and Milnes had to be undone due to the First World War.
Due to economic hardships in the early 1900s, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. merged into one company in 1926, two years after both companies signed an agreement of mutual interest. Thus, Daimler-Benz AG (also known as Mercedes-Benz) was formed. In the next year, the company presented its first combined bus range. By that time, emphasis was given to diesel engines (as opposed to petrol engines) for commercial vehicles.
In 1951, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first bus specifically designed for bus operation (and not derived from a lorry, as was the case of the other buses produced by the company until then) – the O6600 H. This 11-metre-long vehicle was equipped with a six-cylinder, transverse-mounted rear engine, delivering 145 hp, a lower frame than its predecessors, and an electric gearshift system.
In 1954, Mercedes-Benz unveiled its first semi-integral bus – the O321 H. The semi-integral design meant a reduction in weight, improvements in stability and body resistance. The O321 H also was the first to feature coil springs in the front-axle suspension. This 9.2-metre-long vehicle (a 10.9-metre version was later unveiled) also featured a rear-mounted engine. The first version was available with an output of 110 hp, and a later optional 126-hp version was made available. More than 30,000 units of the O321 H complete bus and its platform were sold around the world, a mark which places it as the best-selling bus of its time and, until today, one of the most successful models by Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes-Benz do Brasil Ltda. (Buses) In the year 1951, technicians from Daimler Benz, accompanied by Brazilian specialists, carried out studies to analyse the viability of producing vehicles in Brazil. Two years later, on 7 October 1953, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil was officially founded, having as its first president Alfred Jurzykowski. A plant was then built in São Bernardo do Campo (a city neighbour to São Paulo city) in São Paulo State. On 28 September 1956 the plant was inaugurated in the presence of the then President of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek. This date marks the birth of the Brazilian vehicle industry.
Until 1958, only lorries were produced in the Brazilian plant, and local body builders used lorry chassis to make buses. In 1958, the integral bus Mercedes-Benz O321 H also began local production, supplying the local market as well as the market of other South American countries (although some Latin-American operators also bought European-made Mercedes-Benz buses). For instance, 550 units of Brazilian-made O321 integral buses were exported to Argentina in 1961, and another 300 units were exported to Venezuela in 1965.
In 1963, a front-engine bus chassis was unveiled, based on the LP 321 lorry. New versions of this chassis as well as new versions of the O 321 integral bus were presented the following year. The first integral bus tailored to the Brazilian market was the O 326, a rear-engine coach unveiled in 1966. It featured the turbo-charged OM 326 engine delivering up to 200 hp. One year later, a new front-engine bus chassis was also unveiled – the LPO 344, also based on a lorry chassis.
In 1969, a new rural- and urban-service bus was presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. Designated O 352, this integral bus was equipped with a direct-injection diesel engine. Two new front-engine chassis were presented that same year – the LPO 1113 and the LPO 1520.
During the 1970s the plant in São Bernardo do Campo was being expanded to meet with the increasing demand for the production of commercial vehicles. By the end of that decade, Mercedes-Benz had produced more than 500,000 commercial vehicles in the Brazilian plant, about 4,000 of which were integral buses.
In 1970, the rear-engine OH 1313 and the front-engine OF 1313 bus chassis were unveiled. One year later, a new integral coach was unveiled – the O 362 – featuring a larger luggage compartment than its predecessor, the O 321. Yet another integral bus was presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil – the O 355 – in 1974. The OH 1517 rear-engine chassis was also presented that year. One year after the first three-axle bus was built in Brazil (based on the Mercedes-Benz LPO 1113 front-engine chassis) made its debut in 1977, the new O 364 integral bus was presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil in two versions – one with a 130-hp engine, and the other with a 170-hp engine. Also in 1978 the production of the O 362 was discontinued, after more than 35,100 units were produced in Brazil.
Since the demand for buses was growing by that time, a new plant was inaugurated in Campinas (a city in São Paulo State, Brazil), dedicated only for the production of buses. This plant was considered the biggest and most modern plant dedicated for the production of buses in the Western World. Meanwhile, the plant in São Bernardo do Campo was still being expanded.
In 1984, two new integral bus range were presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. One of them was O 370 coach range, available in two- and three-axle versions. It was the first coach range produced by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil fitted with air suspension as standard. The other was the O 365 regular-service bus range. In 1987, the O 370 and O 365 bus ranges were succeeded by the O 371 range (made up by three coaches and three regular-service bus models).
In 1991, the company inaugurates the Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (or Technological Development Centre in English) in Brazil. This is, until today, the largest of its kind in Latin America. Some of the projects developed by the Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico in Brazil were the natural gas engine M-447 hLAG, used in the natural-gas-powered Citaro, and the cost-effective improvements made in the Axor truck worldwide.
In 1994, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil presented the O 400 integral bus range, which included one standardised city bus, four coaches and the O 400 UPA articulated bus – the first articulated bus produced by Mercedes-Benz in Brazil, which came into production only in 1995. This vehicle featured an electronic-managed articulation developed by the company. In that same year, Mercedes-Benz reached an 85%-share in the commercial vehicles market in Brazil. In the following year, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil received the ISO 9001 and the VBA 6.1 certifications.
In 1996, a new version of the O 371 integral bus for regular-service operation was presented. However, months later Mercedes-Benz announced the end of integral bus production in Brazil. A statement was made in which the company announced it would henceforth focus on the production and development of bus chassis and platforms, and so it occurred. Bus production was relocated in the São Bernardo do Campo plant in 2000, when the Campinas industrial complex was dedicated for activities related to training and overseeing the dealership network in Brazil, parts and accessories distribution and technical assistance.
In 2006, DaimlerChrysler do Brasil unveiled two new articulated modular bus chassis – the O 500 MA (raised floor) and the O 500 UA (low-floor). Both are equipped with a six-cylinder-rear-mounted engine delivering 360 hp as standard. Units of the O 500 articulated bus range were purchased to operate in the BRT systems of Curitiba, São Paulo, Santiago de Chile (Transantiago) and Bogotá (Transmilenio).
Nowadays (2014), under the umbrella of Mercedes-Benz do Brasil Ltda., the bus chassis produced by Mercedes-Benz in Brazil supply the Brazilian market and are exported for countries in the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Amongst the buses produced by Mercedes-Benz in Brazil are the O 500 modular bus chassis series, which includes chassis made for urban and rural applications (available in raised- and low-floor versions) as well as coach chassis, the OH rear-engine bus chassis series, the OF front-engine bus chassis series and the LO mini- and micro-bus chassis series.
Mercedes-Benz Argentina In 1951 the then Daimler-Benz AG set up in Argentina its first factories outside Germany:Mercedes-Benz history www.duttondirect.com accessed 8 May 2008 www.mercedes-benz.argentina/history accessed 9 May 2008 one in the town of San Martín, near Buenos Aires, and another in González Catán on industrial suburbs. The San Martin plant was closed at the end of the 1950s.
Mercedes-Benz released updated local colectivo based on modified L 3500 truck chassis – LO3500, OP3500, LO311, LO312– with a separately manufactured body fitted at a later stage by different coach builders. The LO312 was the first Mercedes-Benz bus front chassis manufactured in Argentina
In 1963 Mercedes built the 10,000th colectivo (model LO312), and continued with other models, such as LO1112, (120 HP), LA1112 4x4 (traction in all wheels) and the LO1114. Due to the family relationship with the truck, the Mercedes-Benz colectivos had a diesel engine with power transmitted to the rear axle by a five-speed constant-mesh gearbox.
In 1967, manufacture of the middle-distance buses of self-supporting platform O120 began. In 1968 the O120 was replaced by the model O140 with a 130-hp engine.
With the L 608D, in 1970 was made in the Virrey del Pino factory the bus version: the LO 608D (until mid-1980s) and the LFu 608 variant.
In 1977, mass production of chassis for buses and buses with power steering began. Manufacturing of the LO914 and the O170, the successor to the O140 model with the OM 352 A supercharged engine with 156 hp and reinforced axles and suspension, also started.
In 1979, the company began the production of the bus chassis, front model, OC 1214, using the OM 352 engine like the LO 1114 bus.
In 1981, with some success, the OH 1419 bus was introduced and made in Argentina.
In 1982, the company built the first bus powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) in Argentina and launched two new models: the front-engine OF 1114 (not available in Argentina, just for export markets only, like Perú) and the OF 1214, with a front engine. Also introduced was a new line of vehicles for urban transport of passengers, automatic transmission for the LO1114, the new front chassis and bus chassis rear engine OH 1314, with and without automatic transmission. Series production of the LO 1114 with automatic gearbox began and joined the air brake system on the Mercedes-Benz model LO 1114.
In 1987, Mercedes-Benz Argentina revolutionized the public transportation of passengers by launching the new line of rear-engined front-side bus (the "OH"), which replaced traditional front motor buses. With also the OH 1318 and OH 1418.
For the first years of the 1990s, arrives the buses of the O-series likes the O 373 RSD (324 units built), the O 374 RSD (72 units built) and the O 400 RSD (61 units built) for the long-distance bus routes and also the OH 1522 (333 units built) and the OH 1526 (98 units built). All made in the factory of González Catán until 1995. In 1994, start the assembly of the OF 1620 with the 200HP diesel engine with 6606 units made and large used in the provinces like Santa Fe, Jujuy and others.