History
Heuliez Bus has developed many types of public transport vehicles and gained the recognition of Mercedes-Benz O305 (rigid) and O305G (articulated) with other front and rear, badged as Heuliez. Around 600 of each type operated in France between 1975 and 1995.
In 1982 the company started to build the GX 17, a minibus based on the Renault Master. [1] After that, in the 1980s, collaborated with Renault Bus to develop the GX 107 and GX 187 and built the GX 44, for the public transport authority of Nantes, which is based on an O305; and the GX 113, specifically for the city of Marseille.
In the 1980s, Heuliez Bus and Renault developed the "Mégabus" (officially the Heuliez GX237) which was a bi-articulated high-floor bus based on the Renault PR180.2. Ten of these buses were built in 1989 for Bordeaux which was used until the tram system opened in 2004. [2]
In 1991, Renault and Volvo each acquired a 37.5% shareholding in Heuliez Bus. [3] [4]
In 1990 Heuliez Bus made the GX 77H midibus (The H standing for Heuliez), and in 1994, the low-floor bus GX 317, built on a Renault chassis. From 1995 to 2001, its collaboration with Volvo led to the design and production of the GX 217 and GX 417.
The GX 117 midibus, the successor to the 77H, was launched in 1999. As of 2012, with significant restyling, this is sold as the GX 327. GX 127 and GX 127L are at the planning stage.
The newest product, designed for Clermont-Ferrand, is the GX 427. Although its CNG version was turned down, it is the twin, articulated version of the Irisbus Citelis 18.
In France, buses produced by the company have the marques "Heuliez Bus"; elsewhere they are known as "Irisbus". The company manufactured 13,439 buses between 1985 and 2006.
Amongst other things, since 2002 Heuliez Bus has manufactured the Irisbus Civis and Irisbus Cristalis on behalf of the Bus business unit of Iveco Bus.
In 2008 the company had revenue of €118.1m, employing around 450 employees at its factory in Rorthais.
Although the brand survived the creation of the Irisbus and reintroduction of the Iveco Bus brands, it's now only available on francophone markets. The GX 337 and GX 447 models are branded as Iveco E-Way by Heuliez on other markets. [5]
Renault Trucks is a French commercial truck manufacturer with corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it has been a subsidiary of Volvo since 2001.
An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a single-decker, and comprises two or more rigid sections linked by a pivoting joint (articulation) enclosed by protective bellows inside and outside and a cover plate on the floor. This allows a longer legal length than rigid-bodied buses, and hence a higher passenger capacity (94–120), while still allowing the bus to maneuver adequately.
The Mercedes-Benz O305 is a single deck, double deck or articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim, West Germany from 1969 until 1988. It was built as either a complete bus or a bus chassis and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptation of the unified German VöV-Standard-Bus design, that was produced by some different bus manufacturers including Büssing, Magirus-Deutz, MAN, Ikarus, Gräf/Steyr, Heuliez, Renault, and Pegaso. The O305 was designed for use as a single-decker bus, however it was later redesigned to accommodate double-decker bodies.
Mercedes-Benz has been producing buses since 1895 in Mannheim in Germany. Since 1995 Mercedes-Benz buses and coaches are known by the brand name of Daimler Buses, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck.
A midibus is a classification of single-decker minibuses which are generally larger than a traditional minibus but smaller than a full-size single decker and can be anywhere between 8 metres and 11 metres long. While used in many parts of the world, the midibus is perhaps most common in the United Kingdom, where operators have found them more economical, and to have a sufficient number of seats compared to full size single-decker buses.
Iveco Bus is a bus manufacturer with headquarters in Turin. Iveco Bus is now only a brand division of IVECO which is a company incorporated under Dutch law and listed on Borsa Italiana.
Société de Transports de l'Agglomération Stéphanoise, or STAS operates a public transport network and infrastructure in and around Saint-Étienne. Its responsibility is to provide tramway, trolleybus and bus service in the fifty-three communes of the Saint-Étienne agglomeration.
Palm Bus is a brand of bus services serving the Southern French city of Cannes, France. The operator, Veolia Transport Cannes is responsible for operating the Bus Azur buses for SITP, grouping the communes of Cannes, le Cannet et Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Théoule-sur-Mer and Mougins.
A bi-articulated bus or double-articulated bus and sometimes train-bus, tram-bus, trackless tram or double bendy bus is a type of high-capacity articulated bus with an extra axle and a second articulation joint, as well as extended length. Bi-articulated buses tend to be employed in high-frequency core routes or bus rapid transit schemes rather than in conventional bus routes.
The Irisbus Citelis is a low-floor city bus produced by Irisbus from 2005 to 2013 when it was replaced in production by the Iveco Urbanway.
The Irisbus Agora was a low-floor bus designed and built by Renault from 1995 to 2002, the date upon which it has been built by Irisbus, firstly a joint-venture with FIAT subsidiary IVECO from 1999, with Iveco engines. It has also been built by Czech-based Karosa under the Citybus name as a diesel-powered bus, Skoda as a trolleybus in Eastern European markets as the Škoda 24Tr Irisbus and Škoda 25Tr Irisbus, and by the Romanian-based Astra Bus.
A single-decker bus or single-decker is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term single-decker refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essentially a bus with two passenger decks and a staircase. These types of single-deckers may feature one or more doors, and varying internal combustion engine positions. The majority of single-deckers have a length of up to 12 m, although some exceptions of longer buses exist. They also typically weigh between 11 and 14 t.
Karosa was a bus manufacturer in Vysoké Mýto in the Czech Republic. It was the biggest manufacturer of buses in Czechoslovakia. In 2007, its name was changed to Iveco Czech Republic, and now the company produces buses under the name Iveco Bus.
The Iveco EuroClass is an Italian intercity coach produced by IVECO starting from 1993 as a replacement of Iveco 370.
The Renault R212 is a medium size bus, originally developed and sold by the French CBM as the CBM 220.
The Heuliez GX 437 is a single-decker bus made by the French bus manufacturer Heuliez Bus designed for use in public transport, and is the articulated version of the Heuliez GX 337. The GX 437 is the successor to the Heuliez GX 427, which went out of production at the end of 2013. Diesel, Hybrid and Electric powered versions of the GX 437 exist.
MOBIpeople is a bus and coach manufacturer based in Coimbra, Portugal. The company was founded in 2008 and primarily produces minibuses, midibuses and their coach equivalents. MOBIpeople is the second largest Portuguese bus manufacturer after Caetano.
The Iveco CityClass is an urban, suburban and peri-urban bus launched by the Iveco bus division in 1997 and renamed Irisbus in 2000. It is the equivalent of Agora in France. It succeeds the Iveco 490 TurboCity UR Green urban bus, later replaced by the Irisbus Citelis.
