Milestones for Mercedes-Benz buses

The Mercedes-Benz Citaro urban bus achieves 40,000 units, while production of Mercedes-Benz minibuses passes 20,000

Mercedes-Benz reports its bus division recently passed two historic production milestones: the manufacturer recently produced its 40,000th Citaro urban bus, while production of the brand’s minibus models have passed 20,000.

The Citaro’s figure makes it the best-selling Mercedes-Benz bus in history, the model – the first urban bus in many markets to be fitted with an electronic stability program and featuring Euro 6 emissions compliance – now found in operation in 40 countries.

The historic 40,000th Citaro, a GÜ model, and 20,000th minibus, a Sprinter City 65, were both handed over to their new owners at a ceremony at the Mercedes-Benz bus production facility in Mannheim, Germany. The Citaro was bound Luxembourg while the minibus will soon see service in Norway.

Mercedes-Benz says the Citaro operates in just about every major European city, along with countries including Mexico, Japan, Singapore and Abu Dhabi. Since its introduction in 1997 the model has grown in popularity to the point that it carved out a dominant 16.4 per cent slice of the European bus market in 2013. In its home market of Germany that dominance extended to a 37 per cent share.

The German maker’s minibus division is also powering ahead, passing 20,000 units. Mercedes-Benz initially bought a share in minibus manufacturer Karl Koch in 1998, before it took over the operation in 2004 and relocated production to Dortmund.

Now a staff of 330 produces Sprinter-based minibuses in three body shells on four assembly lines, with the finished product also sold in 40 countries around the world, including Australia.

A total of 24 minibus models are available ranging in GVM from 3500kg to 6800kg. The models will all benefit from the adoption of the new 2014 Sprinter, and all will feature Euro 6 emissions compliance.

Milestones for Mercedes-Benz buses

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