• Launch of new MultiClass buses at the 55th German International Motor Show (IAA) in Hanover in1994
• New bus assembly plant in Neu-Ulm, Setra MultiClass buses and state-of-the-art plant in Ligny-en-Barrois (Lorraine, France) as excellent basis for the pending merger between Mercedes-Benz Buses and Setra

Stuttgart/Neu-Ulm – 1994 was a year of destiny for the then 101-year-old firm known as Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke GmbH. The long-established company from Ulm was in search of a promising way in which to secure its future. Despite all the firm's business- and market-related difficulties, however, the designers at Setra were working on a new generation of rural regular-service buses in an effort to secure the company's long-established market leadership in this segment. Yet what the engineers did not know and could not have anticipated was that, alongside the Series 300 touring coaches, which had already been successfully launched in 1991, this new line of vehicles was destined to play a key role in the survival of the tradition of bus construction in Ulm. In a development time of just 12 months, they realised the platform for the new MultiClass buses, which, in the form of UL = rural service, H = raised floor and GT = Grand Tourismo, provided bus operators with vehicles that were to find application as genuine "double earners" in mixed service (regular and occasional service). 17 years on, the new S 315 UL, S 315 H and S 315 GT took over from the regular-service buses of the old 200 Series, which had been launched in 1977.

These former Kässbohrer/Setra MultiClass buses of the 300 Series were to become the basis for EvoBus's successful Setra MultiClass 400 of today. The brand attributes of those days still hold true for today's MultiClass buses. Also at that time, one basic platform gave rise, thanks to a modular construction principle, to three different models. The familiar "Setra face", distinctive exterior mirrors, bright interior, ergonomic cockpit area and powerful line-up of engines – these are all features that still apply today to the new MultiClass with its now 12 model series.

Opened on 5 October 1992 after a two-year construction period, the bus assem-bly plant in Neu-Ulm must also be viewed as a key asset on the balance sheet of the former Karl Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke GmbH in light of the due diligence checks that were being carried out with a view to a possible takeover of Kässbohrer's bus division by what was then Mercedes-Benz AG.

Capital expenditure on this plant, which at that time had an area of 306,000 m2, amounted to 170 million marks. Twenty years ago, the facility had a workforce of 2000 employees, who produced around 2200 complete buses every year for rural service and touring. Today, some 3500 workers in Neu-Ulm are engaged in the painting and assembly of urban, rural service and touring buses of the two EvoBus brands. Since EvoBus was founded in February 1995, Daimler AG has additionally invested around 190 million euros in a customer centre, administration building and state-of-the-art paint-spraying facilities in Neu-Ulm.

The still existing production facility in Ligny-en-Barrois, approximately halfway between Strasbourg and Paris, was another asset that played a key role in Mercedes-Benz's thinking at the time of the merger: built by Kässbohrer, the state-of-the-art bus plant opened in 1981 with the series production of Setra buses, mainly for the French market, but it also served Setra customers in the rest of western Europe. Today, Ligny is an important pillar for supplying the French market. It has a workforce of around 400 employees, who produce on average each year some 800 Mercedes-Benz Citaro urban regular-service and school buses for customers in France. The tremendous growth enjoyed by Ligny and its products is evident from the doubling of annual unit sales, because, even in a very good year, Kässbohrer previously used to sell no more than
300 to 400 Setra buses per year in France.

The more than 100 years of tradition in bus construction at Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim and Kässbohrer/Setra in Ulm/Neu-Ulm have spawned visible success in the guise of EvoBus. Innovative developments coordinated with the diverse possibilities available from the world's automotive technology leader, as well as an integral bus production network made up of five plants in Germany, France, Czech Republic and Turkey today form the basis for unique efficiency and product quality across national borders. The guiding principle behind EvoBus has at all times been clearly defined: while adopting a two-brand strategy, to harness all the synergies available from within the Daimler Group to use state-of-the-art drive and safety systems that meet the specific mobility requirements of both today and tomorrow.