Jonathan Welch takes a look across to Poland and casts his eye over the history of Solaris, a name which has gone from zero to a major player in the European bus market in the last quarter of a century
Solaris is a name which has become increasingly common over the last decade or two on the European city bus market, the Polish manufacturer having swiftly built a reputation for itself in both the bus, trolleybus and tram markets. I was impressed with the two vehicles on display at Busworld in Brussels this year, so decided to take a closer look at the company and its roots.
According to its own website, the manufacturer, which is based in Bolechowo, near Poznań in west-central Poland, has produced over 23,000 vehicles since it was founded in the mid 1990s, and has won a trophy-case of awards over the years.
In September 2018, Solaris became part of the Spanish CAF Group, known best in the UK for its trains, having delivered new rolling stock to Northern and Transpenninexpress. Solaris as we know it today has its origins in Neoplan Polska, which was founded in Warsaw in August 1994 as the Polish dealership for German company Gottlob Auwärter GmbH, owner of the Neoplan brand. Right from the beginning, Neoplan Polska was an entirely separate entity, family owned by husband and wife Krzysztof Olszewski and Solange Olszewska.
In its first few years, the company dealt exclusively in Neoplan products in Poland, delivering its first N4020/3 bus to Warsaw city bus operator MZK Warszawa in 1994, the first low-floor bus in Poland. The following year, it won a tender to supply 50 low-floow buses closer to home to the city of Poznań, leading the company to open its own factory, which opened in the autumn of that year.
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