Den Oudsten Bussen B.V. was a Dutch

coachbuilder 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, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...

and components

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

. The company was founded in 1926 by a local carriage-builder, Marinus den Oudsten. Its headquarters were just outside the city of

Woerden Woerden () is a city and a municipality in central Netherlands. Due to its central location between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht, and the fact that it has rail and road connections to those cities, it is a popular town for commu ...

. It eventually ceased all activities after being declared

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

in 2002. The company, which was family-owned, had a profound influence on

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

in the Netherlands from the 1960s right up until the late 1990s. It mainly built coaches and bodyparts for buses that were assembled on chassis made by DAF, Leyland,

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, and

Iveco Iveco S.p.A., an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company with headquarters in Turin, Italy. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy Commercial vehicle, commercial veh ...

. In 1986 one of the family members, Jan den Oudsten, acquired a

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bus manufacturer and renamed it

New Flyer Industries New Flyer is a Canadian multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in the production of transit buses. New Flyer is owned by the NFI Group, a holding company for several bus manufacturers. New Flyer has several manufacturing facilities in Can ...

Ltd.. Den Oudsten Bussen BV was considered a separate company and had no institutional relations with New Flyer Industries. The official emblems of both companies were nevertheless identical. The Dutch company also cooperated with manufacturer

Nova Bus Nova Bus is a Canadian transit bus manufacturer headquartered in Saint-Eustache, Quebec. Nova is owned by the Volvo Group. The company has roots in the General Motors Diesel Division, which opened in 1979. Nova Bus was established in 1993, by ...

Ltd to introduce and manufacture low-floor buses in North America. Many older models of Den Oudsten buses that are no longer used in the Netherlands were shipped to other countries, where they can still be seen on local public transport duties. Den Oudsten buses have been spotted as far afield as

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Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

and

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. These exports were sometimes repainted, while others retained their original Dutch

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s, numberplates, or transport company emblems. The eventual bankruptcy of the company is believed to have been caused by the increasingly competitive nature of the

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. Its household effects were sold in a

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in 2002; the most notable highlights were the company's original 1962

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Apache fire-engine[1
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References

External links

Downloadable brochure about the 2002 auction at Den Oudsten Bussen B.V.(PDF-file)
{{European bus builders Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1926 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002 Bus manufacturers of the Netherlands Defunct bus manufacturers Companies based in Utrecht (province) Dutch companies disestablished in 2002 Dutch companies established in 1926