ABC #396

LONG
DISTANCE
RELATIONSHIP
Nearly 10 years since Marcopolo purchased local bus-body
manufacturing icon Volgren, the anniversary shines light on the
massive global bus innovator truly making its mark in Australia.
WORDS FABIAN COTTER IMAGES COURTESY VOLGREN/MARCOPOLO
Brazilian bus manufacturer
Marcopolo is closing in on
a significant milestone – yet
it has nothing to do with
bus numbers on Rio de
Janeiro roads or even South American
sales figures. In just over a year it will be a
decade since the company extended its
global footprint to Australia, purchasing a
stake in Volgren.
Marcopolo acquired 75 per cent of
Volgren in 2012; since April 2017, it has
owned 100 per cent of the company
and remains best known in Australian
bus circles as a parent company. There’s
much more to the Marcopolo story than
that, however.
The company is one of the largest
bus body manufacturers in the world
employing more than 14,300 people in
16 different factories and generating an
average production capacity of 240 units
per day. Across sites in Mexico, Colombia,
Argentina, Egypt, South Africa, India,
China, as well as Brazil and Australia, it
produced 15,740 units last year. To put
that in context, Volgren manufactured
approximately 500 buses in 2019, the
company explains.
Established in 1949, Marcopolo today
has one of most varied product portfolios,
from mini buses to double deckers,
running on the roads of more than 100
countries, it adds.
Marcopolo CEO James Bellini says while
the companies are vastly different in size,
Volgren and Marcopolo share historical
parallels.
“Volgren has a similar background to
Marcopolo’s. Both companies started as
Above:
Marcopolo CEO
James Bellini
Opposite:
Marcopolo
generates
an average
production
capacity of 240
units per day.
busnews.com.au August 2020 ABC
31