The Volvo B12M is an underfloor

mid-engined In automotive engineering, a mid-engine layout describes the placement of an automobile engine in front of the rear-wheel axles, but behind the front axle. History The mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive format can be considered the original layout of ...

bus/ coach chassis introduced by

Volvo Buses Volvo Buses (Volvo Bus Corporation / formal name: ''Volvo Bussar AB'') (stylized as VOLVO) is a subsidiary and a business area of the Swedish vehicle maker Volvo, which became an independent division in 1968. It is based in Gothenburg. It is on ...

in 2002 as a replacement for the

Volvo B10M The Volvo B10M was a mid-engined city bus and coach chassis manufactured by Volvo between 1978 and 2003. It succeeded the B58 and was equipped with the same 9.6-litre horizontally mounted Volvo diesel engine mounted under the floor behind the ...

. It is available with a variety of bodies such as the

Van Hool Van Hool NV () is a Belgium, Belgian family-owned coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, Coach (bus), coaches, trolleybuses, and Semi-trailer, trailers. Most of the buses and coaches are built entirely by Van Hool, with engines and axle ...

T9 Alizee,

Sunsundegui Sideral Sunsundegui is a bus and coach manufacturer based in Alsasua, Spain. History The company namesake is businessman José Sunsundegui, who founded the company in the Basque Country town of Irún in 1944. Sunsundegui initially started out as a ...

and

Plaxton Panther The Plaxton Paragon and Plaxton Panther are closely related designs of coach bodywork built by Plaxton in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, since 1999,Millar, Alan (2007) ''Bus & Coach Recognition'' : Ian Allan Ltd., and still in producti ...

Paragon Paragon may refer to: Places *Paragon, Indiana, a town in the United States * Paragon, Nebraska, former community in the United States *The Paragon, Bath, a Georgian street in the Walcot area of Bath * The Paragon, Blackheath, London, built by Mi ...

. Large British users of the B12M include

Wallace Arnold Wallace Arnold (Barr & Wallace Arnold Trust) was one of the UK's largest holiday motorcoach tour operators. History Wallace Arnold was founded in 1912 and was named after two of its founders Wallace Cunningham and Arnold Crowe. In 1926, the Bar ...

, Park's Motor Group and

Southern Vectis Southern Vectis is a bus operator on the Isle of Wight. The company was founded in 1921 as "Dodson and Campbell" and became the "Vectis Bus Company" in 1923. The company was purchased by the Southern Railway before being nationalised in 1969. ...

. In Brazil, the B12M replaced the B10M in articulated/bi-articulated versions, not being built in a solo bus version like its predecessors B58E and B10M, and is produced since 2004. Also, in Curitiba, there are bi-articulated buses on Volvo B12M chassis in a 28-meter configuration, making them some of the world's longest buses. Since 2011, the B12M was renamed as B340M, and the chassis was updated to the ''Proconve P7/Euro V'' emission standard rules in the following year. Both articulated and bi-articulated versions are rated for 340 hp.

See also