Company Profile

Solaris Bus & Coach is a Polish bus manufacturer located just north of Poznań, exactly between two European capitals: Warsaw and Berlin. Solaris ranks well amongst the leading players in the European bus industry and manufactures a wide range of modern city and suburban buses, trolleybuses, buses for special applications and trams.

Solaris Bus & Coach is a family-owned and family-run enterprise. Founder Krzysztof Olszewski gathered sound experience in the bus industry at a well-known German bus manufacturer, where he held important managerial positions for 15 years. In 1994 he introduced the first low-floor bus to the Polish home market and thus became a pioneer in this field. Olszewski founded his own production site in Bolechowo, near Poznań, in 1996.

Since the start of production, over 8000 buses have been built at this plant. Initial successes were achieved on the home market. Export activities of Solaris buses started in 2000 and have since significantly contributed to the growth. Today, export sales account for around 65% of the production; Solaris buses are operated in 22 European countries as well as in Russia and Dubai.

The company’s development demonstrates continuity and dynamism, permanently enlarging the product range by adding innovative vehicles. The current product range centres on the Urbino family of urban and suburban low floor and low entry buses, which meet demanding European emission standards. A range of trolleybuses, the Trollino, offers zero-emission propulsion. In 2006, Solaris presented Europe’s first hybrid diesel-electric bus based on volume-production technology. Company continued its work on electro-mobility and in 2009 introduced its first light rail vehicle - Tramino tram. The next step in development of electric-powered vehicles was a fully-electric powered bus. In 2011 Urbino electric - first Polish battery bus had its premiere during Transexpo Kielce trade fair. Furthermore, Solaris special vehicles designed for uses ranging from airport transport to mobile blood donation stations are known throughout Europe.

Solaris buses have several distinctive features: they are manufactured from non-corrosive stainless steel and are equipped with chassis modules and power-train components supplied by Europe’s leading component manufacturers. All Urbino city buses and Trollino trolleybuses have two unique identifying symbols: an asymmetric windscreen that allows better visibility of passengers waiting at bus stops and a green dachshund that stands for friendliness towards the environment and passengers, for good economy in maintenance and, most of all, for reliability.

In development and manufacture, Solaris focuses all its efforts on the buses’ owners and operators, passengers and drivers. The key objective is to satisfy the specific demands of all these customer groups in equal measure. Therefore, Solaris’s priorities are based on driving safety and passenger security, on product reliability and durability as well as on excellent components quality and high availability of parts. Solaris believes in simplicity of engineering and in focussing design concepts on passenger and driver comfort. This pursuit of excellence has enabled us to develop a range of buses whose innovative and attractive styling, with a comfortable and passenger-friendly travel environment, communicates a sheer joy of creation.

The long-term objective of Solaris Bus & Coach is to achieve a stable presence on the world market. Today our products are well established in most European countries. Furthermore we aim to prove that family-owned businesses have every chance of succeeding in the international marketplace, especially at the present time of rapid globalisation, thanks to quick decision-making, flexibility and the ability to quickly react to changing market demands. We are convinced that there is room for both large multinational corporations as well as compact and medium-sized businesses. We believe that the economy - just like nature - needs diversity to support and facilitate growth.