20,000TH MERCEDES-BENZ CITARO BUS DELIVERED
With 20,000 copies of the Citaro sold within ten production years Mercedes-Benz sets a new record. Citaro number 20,000 will be operated by travel company Pflieger Reise- und Verkehrs GmbH in Böblingen, Germany.
The Mercedes-Benz Citaro total production volume of 20,000 units in just ten years is unique among regular service buses; almost 3200 units were sold in the record year 2007 alone. Since production began in 1997/1998, the urban bus family has been extended steadily from two to the current twelve basic models.
The modular structure of the Citaro provides scope for a high degree of flexibility in the manufacturing process, according to Mercedes-Benz. As well as making it possible to use different drive systems, this forms the basis for numerous special and modified versions, ranging from two and three-axle low-floor solo buses from 10.5 to 15 metres in length, low-floor articulated buses, low-floor rural-service buses, the low-entry Citaro LE and the Citaro-derived Mercedes-Benz Capa-City high-capacity bus.
The design concept of the Mercedes-Benz Citaro is also compatible with future
drive technologies, Mercedes-Benz claims. As a result, the Citaro was used as the basis for the world's largest field test of fuel-cell technology. From 2003 to 2006, 30 fuel-cell buses based on the Citaro were operated under greatly varying conditions by transport authorities all over Europe. Perth in Australia and the Chinese capital Beijing
each hosted another three test vehicles. The entire test fleet has now covered a
total of more than two million kilometres and clocked up some 125,000 operating
hours.
Hybrid-drive technology represents an intermediate stage on the way to the
adoption of the fuel-cell drive in series production. Last year saw the premiere of
the hybrid version of the Citaro, currently undergoing testing ahead of its market launch in 2009.
