Australasian Bus & Coach — October 2017

busnews.com.au October 2017 ABC^25

Left: A Volgren

build in progress

Above: The

roof is coming

together

I

n an era during which

Australia has watched

the demise of the car

automotive industry, it

is both surprising and

interesting that local bus

manufacturing has not only

survived but also grown. One

of the success stories in this

¾ eld is Volgren, a Victorian-

based company – now owned by

Brazilian giant, Marcopolo S.A.

• whose history as a bus body
  manufacturer spans 40 years.
  Today, the company has
  facilities in Melbourne, Sydney,
  Brisbane and Perth, and it was
  at Volgren’s manufacturing
  centre in the Western Australian
  capital that I met with Volgren
  state manager Mathew Smith.
  He recently oversaw delivery
  of 32 Volgren-built CAT buses
  to the Perth Transit Authority,
  part of a long-standing
  partnership that he believes
  has ¿ ourished thanks to strong
  collaboration and high-quality
  Australian design.
  “Volgren buses are 100
  per cent Australian designed
  and we use a high proportion
  of Australian componentry
  throughout the vehicle,” he
  says. “All the aluminium is
  sourced locally and a large
  amount of the plastics and
  interior fittings and finishes are
  Australian made.”
  The aluminium he refers to is,
  in many ways, the materials that
  sets Volgren apart. Indeed, it
  always has.

THE EARLY DAYS

George Grenda, an enterprising

businessman, founded the

Grenda Corporation in 1945,

purchasing six vehicles and

four bus routes to operate in the

eastern suburbs of Melbourne. In

that ¾ rst decade of the company’s

operation, growth of the area and

in the enterprise was immense.

Smith says Grenda and

his family began to consider

manufacturing in addition to the

operation of bus routes when

they realised what they wanted

from a bus wasn’t available from

existing vehicle companies.

“The Grendas came to the

point where they had some

pretty serious ideas about

what they needed but they

couldn’t find suitable buses

on the market. They started to

build vehicles to suit their own

needs,” he explains.

The owners began to consider

ways to build a more reliable,

comfortable, and cost-effective

bus than those available at

the time. In 1977 they were

approached to be exclusive

chassis distributors by Volvo in

Victoria and areas of southern

The Grendas ... had ideas

about what they needed

but couldn’t fi nd suitable

buses on the market