Büssing

Büssing AG

Industry	Manufacturing
Fate	Merged with MAN AG
Founded	1903
Defunct	1971
Headquarters	Braunschweig, Germany
Key people	Heinrich Büssing (1843-1929) (founder)
Products	Trucks and buses

Classic Büssing

Büssing was a German bus and truck manufacturer established by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) at Braunschweig in 1903. Büssing's first truck was a 2-ton payload machine powered by a 2-cylinder gasoline engine and featuring worm drive. That successful design was later built under license by other companies in Germany, Austria, Hungary and by Straker-Squire in England. Before World 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 1923, Büssing introduced the first rigid three-axle chassis which was used in upcoming models and allowed Büssing to lead the market share in Germany in commercial vehicles.

History

Büssing NAG used inmates of several Nazi concentration camps in Braunschweig from 1944 to March 1945 for slave labor. These camps were subcamps to the Neuengamme concentration camp.

Acquisitions

• First acquisition for Büssing was Mannesmann-Mulag Motoren und Lastwagen AG of Aachen.
• Elbing plant of Automobil Fabrik Kornnick AG.
• In 1934, Neue Automobil Gesellschaft (NAG). After the takeover Büssing used the brand Büssing-NAG until 1950.
• Büssing took over the Borgward plant at Osterholz-Scharmbeck in 1962. This plant used for building military 4-tonne 4x4. (1968 Factory was sold to Faun-Werke GmbH)

Innovations

• 1930s: Büssing began building heavy duty trucks with diesel engines
• 1936: Büssing pioneered the horizontal "underfloor" diesel engines
• During World War II Büssing once again supplied military vehicles including 6x4 armoured cars and an 8x8 with all-wheel steering.

After World War II civilian production resumed with 5-tonne and later 7-tonne trucks. In 1950, the company name became Büssing Nutzkraftwagen GmbH and production was concentrated on underfloor-engined trucks which were to become the firm's speciality. 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. In 1969, Büssing started strong ties with MAN 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. 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.

Trolleybus production

Büssing manufactured trolleybuses between 1933 and 1966, producing approximately 71 vehicles. Most were for German cities, but production also included three trolleybuses for Chernyakhovsk, Russia, in 1939; four for Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1940–42; and 14 for Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1965. In Turkey, the operator of the Izmir trolleybus system converted 21 Büssing motorbuses into trolleybuses in 1962 and 1968 (these are not counted in the total of 71 given above). At least four Büssing trolleybuses have been preserved, including ones at the Frankfurt Transport Museum,^DE at the Hannoversches Straßenbahn-Museum and at the Historama transport museum in Ferlach, Austria.

Image gallery

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  Büssing trolleybus preserved at the Frankfurt-am-Main Transport Museum

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  BS 110 V Standardbus Berlin BVG fleet no 1957

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  Büssing Konsul

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  1959 Büssing LS 77

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  1965 Büssing Commodore

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  Büssing Truck

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  Büssing BS 16 L (1972)

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  MAN Büssing

See also

• MAN AG