Solaris: They started in the middle of the workshop – Transportation



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Of profession, dentist and engineer. Solange and Krzysztof Olszewscy, creators of the largest electric bus manufacturer in Europe. They are just selling their Solaris Bus & Coach business to a Spanish investor.

Solaris Bus & Coach can become at least partially Spanish. This information is no longer such a shock as the previous, in late April 2018, that the Olszewscy are selling their business. For the moment, the CAF from the Basque Country has exclusive negotiations. Why he? – I think CAF has the right vision for the development of the company and will be able to develop Solaris' global potential – Solaris Solange Olszewska, owner. He believes that the buyer will provide the brand created by her and her husband Krzysztof promising the future.


Why sell? Because motorization is becoming the industry's latest technology. And they, especially electric batteries or hydrogen engines, are expensive. As a result, Solaris needs more money than it can collect in the market. According to Solange Olszewska, the company should grow faster, because there is a boom in the market and it takes capital to use it.

This does not mean that Solaris does not invest. Over the past four years, Olszewscy has spent PLN 250 million for research and development and expansion of the factory. According to Solange Olszewska, far too little to guarantee the future.

Read also: The Basque tycoon will invest in Solaris

You're welcome, for the money of Germany

Solange and Krzysztof Olszewscy – she is a dentist, engineer, graduate of the Faculty of Economics Mechanical and Technology University of Warsaw Technology, they built a global business from scratch, mainly for the money imported from Germany. Commercial activity began much earlier and more modestly: in 1979, after the purchase of half a car workshop in Warsaw. They spent the money earned during their summer work in Sweden.

The idea of ​​the bus business came after Krzysztof Olszewski was employed at the family business Neoplan, based in Berlin and owned by Gottlob Auwärter GmbH. He previously knew the company of student internships. There, he impressed the boss with innovative solutions. Olszewski quickly advanced from the position of chief engineer to the factory director. And it was the peak of his German career, because only the family could join the commission.

From which the idea of ​​returning to Poland, which the owners of Neoplan considered as a country became president became the president of the union. However, they agreed that Krzysztof Olszewski would buy them buses and sell them at his own risk. And in Poland, the occasional bus market grew rapidly and Olszewski imported them from Germany, finding buyers among the tourist offices.

After returning to the country in 1993, Olszewscy founded the company Neoplan Polska, a family business with 100% Polish capital. And under the Neoplan brand, with MAN, they won a contract for the supply of 72 buses for Berlin.

Olszewski then understood that the future of urban transport is that of low-floor buses. He sold the first in 1994 and with Solange, he believed he had a chance to grow in Poland.

They decided to build their own factory when the president of Poznań decided to buy 150 buses, including 72 neoplanes, Getting to know the factory

Last minute loan

They have found the area near Bolechów, the renovation of the room began, they sent employees for training, but they did not have money for the rest. German banks did not want to give money for investment in Poland and only Bank Handlowy in Warsaw just before Christmas 1994 decided to take a chance

Production started in March 1995. A factory was established at Bolechów-Osiedlu the rest was assembled on site. Three years after the other in Środa Wielkopolska, there were also skeletons of vehicles built

Neoplan Polska, in which the parent company bought 30%. shares, quickly won half of the Polish low-floor urban bus market. It turned out, however, that German buses are not suited to harsh winters and salt in the streets. This accelerated new decisions

Four years after the return of the Olszewski, not only did the bus of the brand new Urbino debut, but also the company Solaris. It was also a reaction to the events in Germany: MAN, the biggest competitor of the Olszewscy company, was taken over by Gottlob Auwärter GmbH, the owner of the Neoplan brand. MAN then offered to buy the company Olszewscy, promised its president Krzysztof Olszewski

– We knew it would be the end of Solaris – reminded Solange Olszewska. There was no other way out: Krzysztof Olszewski, then chairman of the company, bought shares in Polish company from Neoplan. The spouses promised all the goods, private and private, they saved not only the company, but also work for 500 people, because it turned out that MAN was planning to close the Polish company .

Solaris became Solaris Bus & Coach. The company Podpoznan started producing buses for export. The first year of sales has already been successful: it has found buyers for 70 vehicles of the new brand. In 2006, Solaris Bus & Coach was transformed into a stock company and a year later, a production hall at the Bolechów factory was inaugurated and another stage of extension began

Solange Olszewska invented the factory symbol: Green Dachshund. – Dachshund, because the buses were low and long. Green, because it's becoming more and more ecological

Personality Changes

Krzysztof Olszewski, who resigned as Solaris president for his wife, hitherto vice-president of customer service and responsible for the marketing, sales and service departments. Initially, however, he remained chairman of the supervisory board, and Solaris won European and non-European markets (for example, buses from its production around Dubai) and became famous as an innovative company specializing in urban transport clean. In Germany alone, it drives more than 2,000

Today, Solaris is the largest European manufacturer of electric buses, the other two being the Chinese BYD (shareholder is Warren Buffett) and the Dutch VDL. The company employs 2,500 people in Poland. : Solange and Krzysztof Olszewscy – 67%, their two children 16,5%

Solaris Bus & Coach is now ranked fourth in the ranking of the biggest European low-floor bus manufacturers: Germany – Mercedes and MAN – and Italian Iveco In 2017, Solaris sold the most vehicles in its history: 1397. At that time, it also decided to sell the Stadler tram part

The turnover of the company 39, business raises to 1.9 billion PLN in 2017. Olszewscy real estate wealth is valued at PLN 819 million [19659007] Without estate

Solange Olszewska has not repeatedly hidden the property. hoping that in the future society would be led by their children – son Jan and Małgorzata girl. "- But I would not make a mistake Neoplan and trust only the genome – said at an investment forum organized by the German Chamber of Commerce in Poland

-Never say that I am not interested in the estate in Solaris.It's my mother's decision, not mine.Mum thinks I should be at least 40 years old to get back to the business.It's why I am developing my own business for the moment, said Jan Olszewski in April after Olszewski revealed that his company was looking for an investor.Jan Olszewski has now 38. his The company is the Owners Place portal, a platform that supports the cooperation of family businesses.He previously worked at Solaris.

His sister Małgorzata also had a job in her family business, where she was director of sales and marketing. he is in cong Parenting

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