Carrosserie Hess

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Carrosserie Hess AG is a bus, trolleybus and commercial vehicle manufacturer based in Bellach (near Solothurn), Switzerland. It's products can be found operating across the globe, including the United States and Canada.

1 History
2 Products
3 External links

[edit] History

The company was founded in 1882 when Heinrich Hess set up business in Solothurn to build customised car bodies. The company first began building buses in 1919, and production reverted to aluminium products in 1933. It produced its first trolleybuses in 1940 for the Swiss cities of Basel and Biel. In 1961, it commenced building of articulated vehicles, some of which were supplied to operators in the USA and Canada in 1975. The company soon began to expand, and businesses were set up in Portugal and Australia in 1957 and 1978 respectively. The USA business was set up in 1996. The company began production of low floor buses and trolleybuses in 1991, and in 2003 built the first ever double-articulated trolleybuses.

[edit] Products

[edit] Buses

N UB 2-2: A low-floor, two-door bus with 10m, 11.3m and 12m variants, which can accommodate approximately 82, 86 and 95 passengers respectively.
N UB 2-2-1: Identical to the N UB 2-2 with the addition of an extra door at the rear of the vehicle.
N UA 2-2-2-2: A low-floor, 18m four-door articulated bus, which has a capacity of around 150 passengers.

[edit] Trolleybuses

Eurotrolley 3: A 12m long trolleybus with a capacity of approximately 80 passengers.
Swisstrolley 3: An 18m long articulated trolleybus which can accommodate around 140 passengers.
lighTram 3: A 24.7m long double-articulated trolleybus with a capacity of around 192 passengers.
trolleyzug: A 23.3m long trolleybus and trailer with a capacity of around 180 passengers.

[edit] Bus kits

As well as building complete vehicles, Hess also maufactures bus kits for it's worldwide customers. These kits are imported and then built up on reaching their destination.