1936 Mercedes Benz Kässbohrer Grossraum Sattelbus

The accelerating industrial development of Germany in the second half of the 30s led to a sharp increase in the demand for intracity and suburban transportation, to which the automotive industry reacted with non-standard ideas. The thing is that new industrial giants were being built, which is logical, at some distance from the old residential areas, for this reason it was no longer possible to get to the enterprise on foot. And public transport, designed for the previous passenger traffic, has ceased to cope with its tasks. Of course, the automotive industry reacted to the problem by increasing the capacity of buses, the growing engine power already allowed this to be done. But a simple increase in size and capacity did not solve the problem. The fact is that new, super-long cars could not always fit into the narrow streets of old German cities. Of course, various articulated designs were proposed, but this could not completely close the question.

In 1936, Ulm-based Kassbohrer came up with its own radical solution. They built a small series of original Mercedes Benz Kässbohrer Grossraum Sattelbus with a capacity of 172 passengers! Their design, in addition to huge capacity, could boast of relative simplicity. The fact is that the giant passenger compartment was a semitrailer for the Mercedes-Benz Sattelschlepper Typ LZ 8000 truck tractor. The 15-ton vehicle had 114 seats for seated passengers and 52 standing places inside the semitrailer, six more passengers could be accommodated in a spacious tractor cabin.

Not everything turned out as smoothly as planned: of course, this design, which replaced 3-4 conventional buses at once, could significantly relieve the line. But, with a total length of over 20 meters (including the tractor), not all routes passing through the old streets were passable. The car, in spite of the semi-trailer scheme, also did not fit into the turns, and the average speed left much to be desired. For these reasons, the demand for the Mercedes Benz Kässbohrer Grossraum Sattelbus was very limited, and the main use of the grandiose machine was limited to the promotion of the industrial achievements of pre-war Germany.