Karl Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke
Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke was a German vehicle manufacturer in Ulm. Its products were buses, coaches, vehicle transporters, trailers and special vehicles like snow groomer vehicles.
In 1893 Karl Kässbohrer founded the Wagenfabrik Kässbohrer in Ulm. In 1922 Kässbohrer developped a trailer for goods transport, having solid rubber wheels. When Karl Kässbohrer senior died, his sons, Karl junior und Otto Kässbohrer took over the company. In 1969, Kässbohrer was Germany's biggest coach and truck trailer producer. Kässbohrer's coaches and buses were named Setra. The snow grooming vehicles were called PistenBully and 2,000 were sold between 1979 and 1989. At the end of the 1990s about 9,000 employees worked for Kässbohrer.
Starting in 1993, the company began to fall apart. The division's truck bodies, semi-trailers and trailers were sold to the competitor Kögel. In 1994 the snow groomer vehicles division was spun off to Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug (all-terrain vehicle) GmbH. In the end, Mercedes-Benz bought the bus and coach division in 1995 and the new name EvoBus was introduced. The only division which is still family owned, is Kässbohrer Transport Technik in Salzburg, Austria, where vehicle transporters are built.
A remarkable number of Kässbohrer Setra coaches and buses are still in service on German roads, sometimes having a mileage of more than a million kilometers.
Gallery
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Kässbohrer Setra S9 coach, built between 1959 and 1967 -
Kässbohrer Setra S215HD (1976-1991) coach -
Kässbohrer snow groomer vehicle
