Büssing AG was a German

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

and truck manufacturer, established in 1903 by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) in Braunschweig. It quickly evolved to one of the largest European producers, whose utility vehicles with the Brunswick Lion emblem were widely distributed, especially from the 1930s onwards. The company was taken over by MAN AG in 1971.

Heinrich Büssing

At the age of 60, the

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and businessman Heinrich Büssing together with his two sons founded the ''Heinrich-Büssing-Spezialfabrik für Motorwagen und Motoromnibusse''. Büssing, the son of a blacksmith dynasty at Nordsteimke (in present-day Wolfsburg), had studied engineering at the Collegium Carolinum in Braunschweig and had founded several bicycle, engineering and railway signal works with varying degrees of success. His first truck was a 2-ton payload machine powered by a 2-cylinder gasoline engine and featuring

worm drive A worm drive is a gear arrangement in which a worm (which is a gear in the form of a screw) meshes with a worm wheel (which is similar in appearance to a spur gear). The two elements are also called the worm screw and worm gear. The terminolo ...

. That successful design was later built under license by other companies in Germany, Austria, Hungary and by

Straker-Squire Straker-Squire (also known as Brazil Straker) was a British automobile manufacturer based in Bristol, and later Edmonton in North London. The company was formed in 1893 at St Philips, Bristol, as Brazil, Straker & Co by the Irish engineer J.P. ...

in England. One year later he debuted a first 20 HP omnibus model carrying up to twelve passengers on the route from Braunschweig to

Wendeburg Wendeburg is a municipality in the district of Peine, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 11 km east of Peine, and 12 km northwest of Braunschweig. Municipal subdivisions * Bortfeld * Harvesse * Meerdorf * Neubrüc ...

, operated by his own ''Automobil-Omnibus-Betriebs-Gesellschaft''. Büssing busses soon served public transport in European cities like Berlin ( ABOAG), Vienna and Prague (''Fross–Büssing''), or London.

History

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 1914 the

Büssing A5P The Büssing A5P was an armoured car produced in Germany during World War I. History The Büssing company had received its first orders of military vehicles in 1910, producing artillery tractors and supply trailers. By November 1914, the Germa ...

armored car was developed at the behest of the German '' Oberste Heeresleitung''. After the war, Heinrich Büssing had to enter a '' Kommanditgesellschaft'' limited partnership, converted into the Büssing AG

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

in 1922. In 1923, Büssing introduced the first rigid three-axle

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

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 several Nazi concentration camps in Braunschweig from 1944 to March 1945 for slave labor. These camps were subcamps to the Neuengamme concentration camp.The main camp Büssing and Schilldenkmal is listed as No. 165 Braunschweig in th
official German list
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.

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

*1923: The Büssing III GL 6 is the world's first

full-size bus Full-size car—also known as large car—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than mid-size cars, it is the largest size class for cars. In Europe, it is known as E-segment or F-segment. Af ...

* 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.

Trolleybus production

Büssing manufactured trolleybuses between 1933 and 1966, producing approximately 71 models.Murray, Alan (2000). ''World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia'', p. 103. Yateley, Hampshire, UK: Trolleybooks. . 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 Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

, Switzerland, in 1965. In Turkey, ESHOT 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 Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its nam ...

, ( :de:Verkehrsmuseum Frankfurt am Main) at the ''Hannoversches Straßenbahn-Museum'' and at the ''Historama'' transport museum in Ferlach, Austria.

Notes