 | |
| Industry | Manufacturing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1903 |
| Defunct | 1971 |
| Fate | Merged withMAN AG |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) (founder) |
| Products | Trucks andbuses |
Büssing AG was a Germanbus andtruck manufacturer, established in 1903 by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) inBraunschweig.[1] It quickly evolved to one of the largest European producers, whose utility vehicles with theBrunswick Lion emblem were widely distributed, especially from the 1930s onwards. The company was taken over byMAN AG in 1971.
At the age of 60, theinventor and businessman Heinrich Büssing together with his two sons founded theHeinrich-Büssing-Spezialfabrik für Motorwagen und Motoromnibusse. Büssing, the son of ablacksmith dynasty at Nordsteimke (in present-dayWolfsburg), had studied engineering at theCollegium Carolinum in Braunschweig and had founded several bicycle, engineering and railway signal works with varying degrees of success.[2] His first truck was a 2-ton payload machine powered by a 2-cylinder gasoline engine and featuringworm drive. That successful design was later built under license by other companies in Germany, Austria, Hungary and byStraker-Squire in England.
One year later he debuted a first 20 HP omnibus model carrying up to twelve passengerson the route from Braunschweig toWendeburg, operated by his ownAutomobil-Omnibus-Betriebs-Gesellschaft.[2] Büssing busses soon served public transport in European cities likeBerlin (ABOAG),Vienna andPrague (Fross–Büssing), orLondon.
BeforeWorld War I Büssing started to build heavy-duty trucks for the time. These trucks featured 4- and 6-cylinder engines (5 tonnes and 11 tonnes, respectively). In 1914 theBüssing A5P armored car was developed at the behest of the GermanOberste Heeresleitung. After the war, Heinrich Büssing had to enter aKommanditgesellschaft limited partnership, converted into the Büssing AGjoint-stock company in 1922. In 1923, Büssing introduced the first rigid three-axlechassis which was used in upcoming models and allowed Büssing to lead the market share in Germany in commercial vehicles. Fleets of their double and single deck buses ran on the streets of Berlin and were a common sight in the interwar years.
Büssing NAG used inmates of severalNazi concentration camps in Braunschweig from 1944 to March 1945 for slave labor. These camps were subcamps to theNeuengamme concentration camp.[3]
AfterWorld War II civilian production resumed with 5-ton and 7-ton trucks being produced.[1] In 1950, the company name becameBüssing Nutzkraftwagen GmbH and production was concentrated on underfloor-engined trucks which were to become the firm's specialty. Most tractor units and all normal-control trucks had vertical engines, but in the mid 1960s there was a version of their Commodore maximum-weight tractor unit, the 16-210, which had a horizontal diesel mounted under the cab ahead of the front axle, the gearbox being mounted halfway along the truck's chassis.[1]
In 1969, Büssing started strong ties withMAN AG. MAN was a customer to some Büssing's innovative trucks and parts while they were promoting their own line-up. In 1971, an MAN takeover of Büssing was announced.[1] MAN started to use the lion logo on its newly named "MAN-Büssing" trucks. Büssing's unique underfloor-engined truck range continued in production under the MAN AG through to the late 1980s.
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Büssing manufacturedtrolleybuses between 1933 and 1966, producing approximately 71 models.[5] Most were for German cities, but production also included three trolleybuses forChernyakhovsk, Russia, in 1939; four forCopenhagen, Denmark, in 1940–42; and 14 forLucerne, Switzerland, in 1965.[5] In Turkey,ESHOT converted 21 Büssingmotorbuses into trolleybuses in 1962 and 1968[5] (these are not counted in the total of 71 given above). At least four Büssing trolleybuses have been preserved, including ones at theFrankfurt Transport Museum, (de:Verkehrsmuseum Frankfurt am Main) at theHannoversches Straßenbahn-Museum and at theHistorama transport museum inFerlach, Austria.[5]
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