Busscar Ônibus S.A. was a Brazilian bus manufacturer that built coaches, trolleybuses, charter buses, and tour buses, founded on 17 September 1946. The company was based in Joinville in the south of Brazil, where it had industrial premises that covered 1,000,000 m2 (11,000,000 sq ft). Busscar went defunct on 27 September 2012.
Busscar had its origins in a firm created on 17 September 1946, when two brothers of Swedish descent, Augusto Bruno Nielson and Eugênio Nielson, opened a carpentry shop in Joinville where they made wooden furniture, window frames, and desks. One year later, Nielson & Brother remodelled their first bus body. In 1949, they built a bus body entirely in wood, attached to a large Chevroletchassis; this was the starting point of a business that would become an important bus manufacturing company in Latin America.
When Augusto's elder son Harold joined the company in 1956, it was en route to becoming the segment leader in Brazil, with innovative and successful models such as the Diplomata model in 1961, the Urbanuss in 1987, the Panorâmico DD in 1998, and others.
In 1990, the business, by then called Carrocerias Nielson, launched a new family of vehicles and changed its name to Busscar Ônibus, creating a brand that is still known internationally today despite the company's later demise.
Bankruptcy and successor
On 27 September 2012, the Brazilian judiciary of Santa Catarina declared the bankruptcy of Busscar due to effects from the economic crisis of 2008.[1] The judge of the 5th Civil Court of Joinville, Walter Santin Júnior, approved the purchase of the Joinville factory in a final ruling on 21 March 2017, consisting of a R$9.4 million cash deposit and another R$57.74 million to be paid in 52 installments with monetary correction.
The name and activities of the new company were unknown, but in May 2017, new employment contracts became available after the end of the legal process.[2] On 12 June 2017, Maurício Lourenço da Cunha, represented by Sergio Souza, assumed ownership of the factories, with the new company being named Carbuss.[3]
