| Type | Merged with MAN AG |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1903-1971 |
| Headquarters | Braunschweig, Germany |
| Key people | Heinrich Büssing (1843-1929)Founder |
| Products | Trucks & Buses |
| Revenue | N/A |
| Employees | N/A |
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 its time. These trucks featured with 4 and 6 cylinder engines. (5 tonnes and 11 tonnes respectively). In 1923 Büssing introduced the first rigid three axle chassis which used in upcoming models and allowed Büssing to lead the market share in Germany in commercial vehicles.
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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. [1]
After World War II civilian production resumed with a 5-tonne and later a 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 AG was a customer to some Büssing's innovative trucks and parts while they were promoting their own line-up. In 1971 MAN AG takeover of Büssing was announced. MAN AG started to use the lion logo on their newly named trucks MAN-Büssings.
Büssing's unique underfloor-engined truck range continued in production under the MAN AG through to the late 1980s.
Büssing manufactured trolleybuses between 1933 and 1968, producing approximately 92 vehicles.[2] Most were for German cities, but production also included 21 trolleybuses for Izmir, Turkey in 1962 and 1968 and 14 for Lucerne, Switzerland in 1965.[2] At least four Büssing trolleybuses have been preserved, including ones at the Verkehrsmuseum Frankfurt am Main, at the Hannoversches Straßenbahn-Museum and at the Historama transport museum in Ferlach, Austria.[2]