Vehicle number 10,000 has rolled off the production lines in Bolechowo near Poznań. It is a Solaris Urbino electric 12 manufactured for the Rheinbahn company from Düsseldorf, Germany. In turn, vehicle number 10,001 will be delivered to MPK Kraków.
The production of low-floor city buses in Bolechowo began on March 22, 1996, when the factory owners, Solange and Krzysztof Olszewski, along with a group of 36 employees, started fulfilling an order for the delivery of 72 buses for MPK in Poznań. The company quickly became a leader in the Polish market for low-floor city buses and entered foreign markets with its products.
Today, Solaris brand vehicles – city and intercity buses, trolleybuses, and trams – are already operating in 28 countries in over 500 cities, including Berlin, Paris, Rome, and Dubai. Solaris currently employs 2,300 people in four factories located in the Greater Poland region and over 300 employees in its foreign representative offices. For several years, the company has been producing over 1,000 vehicles annually. Last year was a record-breaking one for the company, as it recorded sales of 1,302 units – buses and trolleybuses.
Chart: Solaris company sales in the years 2007-2013, data in units
source: Solaris Bus & Coach S.A., January – December 2013
The jubilee vehicle number 10,000, which has just left the production halls near Poznań, is a Solaris Urbino 12 electric. The bus is powered by electricity and was purchased by the German carrier Rheinbahn from Düsseldorf.
– When we started our business, we had a clear vision of what we wanted to achieve, although at that time it was on the verge of a dream. Today, when I visit various places in Europe and see Polish Solaris buses on the streets, I feel immense pride and joy. The same emotions are shared by our company’s employees, who contribute to the success of the Solaris brand every day through their work and commitment. All of this would not have been possible without the trust our customers place in us – said Solange Olszewska, Chairwoman of the Board of Solaris Bus & Coach S.A.
The ten-thousandth unit is unique due to the innovative type of drive used in it. It is an electric bus powered by energy stored in batteries. Solaris has sold such completely emission-free and extremely quiet vehicles, in addition to Düsseldorf, also to Braunschweig and Hamburg in Germany, as well as to Klagenfurt in Austria and Västerås in Sweden. In Poland, a Solaris electric bus will be tested in Kraków as part of a one-year project carried out in cooperation with MPK.
It is also to the Kraków carrier that Solaris number 10,001 will go. It will be an Urbino 12 with an engine meeting the Euro 6 standard. It is worth emphasizing that this is the first delivery of vehicles with engines meeting the latest emission standard in our country carried out by Solaris. The jubilee unit is one of one hundred buses that Solaris has delivered to MPK in Kraków over the last 3 years.
Currently, the generation of low-floor public transport vehicles offered by Solaris was put into production in 2004. This autumn, during the commercial vehicle trade fair in Hanover, Solaris announces the premiere of a new city Solaris.