I’m sure CC readers know that MAN and Scania are part of TRATON SE, the truck and bus subsidiary of the VW Group. Accordingly, almost all urban transit and intercity coaches manufactured by VW fall under those labels — with the exception of Brazil. There, the VW brand is so strong and so revered that the company still markets a variety of truck and bus chassis using its own name.
For example, here we have the VW 22.280 chassis. Besides the name, this chassis is also unique in two other ways; one obvious and one less so. First the obvious: this bus uses a twin-steer, tandem front axle, a type of suspension rarely used on modern urban transit buses. And the reason for using that type of suspension is related to the second unique aspect — this bus is front-engined. Once again, other than medium-duty, conventional-type “school buses,” almost all urban transit coaches are now rear-engined.
The weight of the engine coupled with the fact that this bus has a total weight capacity of 22 tons means it needs an additional front axle to meet Brazil’s axle loading standards.
That does beg the question, however, why is it front-engined? The answer is it’s more economical, in both manufacturing and later maintenance and service. The chassis is essentially the same one used for trucks — with longer frame rails. The front engine orientation also means widely available truck parts easily fit. Further, besides Brazil, this bus is marketed to less developed countries where these attributes are critical to both purchasing and operation. An operator in Angola recently bought fifty.
The coachwork over the VW chassis is provided by CAIO Induscar, one of the leading coachbuilders in Brazil, who currently own 55% of the in-country urban transit market. We did a previous post on CAIO here. It’s definitely “plus-sized,” as lengths can go up to 15 meters/49 feet. The 22.280 stands for 22 ton load capacity and 280 hp. The engine is a MAN 6.9 litre D08 inline six cylinder diesel with 1250 nm/922 ft lbs of torque, coupled with a ZF six-speed manual transmission.
Impressive, and nice to see the twin-steer front axle still in use on a bus — just like with the Bedford Val and Mitsubishi MR430, I think it conveys an attractive, distinctive stance.
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