BredaMenarinibus S.p.A. was a bus manufacturer based in

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The company was established in 1989 through the merger of Bredabus, the bus and coach divisions of Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie, heir of the consortium Inbus (Industrie Autobus), and Carrozzeria Menarini, established in 1919 in Bologna, anticipating those processes of industrial aggregation that would characterize the bus sector as well as that of industrial vehicles.

History

Carrozzeria Menarini

Menarini was established 1919 by Ettore Menarini in Bologna which main activity was the construction of

horsebus A horse-bus or horse-drawn omnibus was a large, enclosed, and sprung horse-drawn vehicle used for passenger transport before the introduction of motor vehicles. It was widely used in the 19th century in the United States, Europe, and other nat ...

es, an artisan work that required time and precision. The company began in the 1920s, in collaboration with

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

, the production of

coachwork A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles. The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, motor coaches, and railway carriages. The word ...

for collective transport and industrial uses as workshop wagons, ambulances, special vans and buses. During the bombing of Bologna in World War II the factory went destroyed; only in 1946 Menarini restarted the activity producing buses only; with 230 workers produced eight vehicles a month. In the half of the 1950s the production was transferred in a new factory, still in use, in a suburban area; the new plant was built to meet the modern processing needs. At the beginning of the 1960s was projected and built the coach SDM (''Sintesi del Meglio'') a milestone in styling and construction techniques. A successful range of buses were built in the 1970s: the ''Monocar 201'' was fit for urban and suburban services, while ''Monocar 110'', ''Monocar 120'' for intercity scheduled services. In the 1980s the company developed and projected low-floor urban buses building the ''Monocar 220''. Due to financial problems the company sold some shares to Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie whose contribution would have served to modernise the company, later some disagreements with the new management led to the exit of the Menarini family from the new company.

Bredabus

Bredabus was formed in 1987 when the consortium Inbus, established in 1977, closed. The new company was formed by Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie (45%) of

Pistoia Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typic ...

and

Sofer A sofer, sopher, sofer SeTaM, or sofer ST"M (, "scribe"; plural , ) is a Jewish scribe who can transcribe Sifrei Kodesh (holy scrolls), tefillin (phylacteries), Mezuzah, mezuzot (ST"M, , is an abbreviation of these three terms) and other religio ...

(20%) of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

both of the EFIM group. Bredabus continued to build some Inbus models until 1993 with the inscription Bredabus mod.Inbus. The new consortium projected and built three new models, ''Bredabus 2001'' and ''Bredabus 3001'' (urban), ''Bredabus 4001'' (trolleybus), ''Bredabus 5001'' (suburban), characterized by a modern style designed by

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (; ; short for Pininfarina Società per Azioni) is an Italian automotive design, car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 ...

made of

aluminium alloy An aluminium alloy ( UK/IUPAC) or aluminum alloy ( NA; see spelling differences) is an alloy in which aluminium (Al) is the predominant metal. The typical alloying elements are copper, magnesium, manganese, silicon, tin, nickel and zinc. There ...

or steel.

BredaMenarinibus

The new company, that chose a red horse as trademark, passed under the control of

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...

acquiring the necessary resources to develop a range of new buses. BredaMenarinibus produced models in the urban segment such as ''Monocar 221'', ''Monocar 230'', ''Monocar 321'', ''Monocar 340'' while in 1997 began the production of

low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a l ...

as ''Monocar 231'' and ''Monocar 240'' featuring high technical and design solutions. Particular attention was taken to development of a low-emission vehicle, producing a modern style electric minibus, named

ZEUS Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

(Zero Emission Urban System), suitable for the historic centre and sold to some European countries as

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Industria Italiana Autobus

On 20 November 2014, an agreement was signed at the Ministry of Economic Development between Finmeccanica and King Long Italia for the sale of BredaMenarinibus to Industria Italiana Autobus (IIA), owned by King Long Italia (80%) and by Finmeccanica (20%) rebranding the new company with the historical name Menarinibus acquiring the former Irisbus production plant in Flumeri. On 24 January 2018, the first twenty Menarinibus Citymood buses, equipped with the new Euro 6 engines, were delivered to TPER of Bologna. In 2024, the Italian government announced that it would fully withdraw from the company, transferring 71.4% of the shares to Seri Industria SpA.

Production

One of the CityMoods owned by Mersin Metropolitan Municipality

Livorno CTT Nord BredaMenarinibus Vivacity A3040 01

Below is a summary of BredaMenarinibus production: ;Buses * Avancity (2004-2008) * Avancity+ (2008-2013) * Citymood (2013-2015) *Lander (2008-2013) * Monocar 120 (1990-2001) * Monocar 220 (1990-1999) * Monocar 221 (1995-1998) * Monocar 240 (1998-2004) ;Articulated buses * Avancity 18 (2004-2013) * Monocar 321 (1995-1998) * Monocar 340 (1998-2005) ;Trolleybuses *

AnsaldoBreda Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...

F19 *

F22 ;Articulated trolleybuses * Avancity+ HTB (2009) ;Minibuses * Monocar 230 (1993-1998) * Monocar 231 (2000-2005) * Vivacity (2005-2015) * Zeus (electric) (2001-2013)

References

External links

* {{Subject bar, Italy, Buses, Companies, auto=1 Bus manufacturers of Italy Trolleybus manufacturers Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1989 Italian brands Electric bus manufacturers Electric vehicle manufacturers of Italy Manufacturing companies based in Bologna Italian companies established in 1989