Australian operators have started taking a keen interest in Brazil’s Marcopolo since its Volgren acquisition
October 23, 2012
Operating for 63 years, Brazilian coach maker Marcopolo has this month rolled its 350,000th vehicle off the assembly line.
The vehicle, a seventh generation Paradiso 1800 Double Decker road bus features paintwork referring to the celebration, and offers standards comparable to first class in international flights.
Marcopolo CEO José Rubens de la Rosa says the 350K tally is proof of the successful history the company has built over its 63 years in operation.
De la Rosa says the Paradiso 1800 Double Decker was chosen to represent the milestone as it was the most sophisticated coach model made by the company.
“The success of our seventh generation Paradiso family has greatly helped increase our company’s output,” he says.
“In less than three years we have manufactured over 10,000 units of our G7 models, which proves their superior features compared to the other models in the market,” says de la Rosa.
He says the record volume of buses made by Marcopolo also verifies the fast growth the company has been experiencing in the past few years, both in Brazil and abroad.
“We celebrated 100,000 buses in 1998 and fifteen years later, in 2007, we exceeded 200,000 units, and now, only five years after that, we have surpassed the mark of 350,000 vehicles made,” de la Rosa says.
“That also reflects Marcopolo going international and expanding our operations in the main markets across the world, expected to manufacture 32,500 units this year alone.”
Marcopolo operates factories in nine countries outside Brazil – Australia, South Africa, Argentina, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Mexico, and Russia – and employs about 22,000 people.
In Brazil the company operates three plants that turn over 20,000 buses every year, with two factories at Caxias do Sul and one at Rio de Janeiro.