CARROZZERIA BARBI Spa

Via di Mezzo 84
41037 Mirandola (MO) - Italia

Barbi is an historical brand of the Italian bus market. It is one of the few remaining among century-old companies in this sector. All started in 1905 in Concordia, a small town in the province of Modena. It was there that Galileo Barbi opened a small artisan company for the construction of horse carriages. About twenty years later, production was converted focusing on motorized vehicles and the company moved to Mirandola where started the building of bodies on Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Ansaldo, OM and Lancia chassis. The 1931 marked the transition from cars shells to those of commercial vehicles: vans, trucks and special vehicles such as ambulances. Few years later buses were introduced, initially with wooden frame and then in tubular steel. The second generation of the Barbi family succeed in the Seventies, a period of innovative models such as sunroof buses, raised floor coaches and seedlings structural inclined buses. The mechanicals were different but in the mid-Eighties Barbi focused on Volvo chassis opening the way to a long collaboration with the Swedish company that continues today. In 1997 Barbi moved into a new and modern plant, also in Mirandola. With the new Millennium Barbi diversifies production and so in 2007 tha company launches prototypes of van for horses transport and cabs for railways. Meanwhile, buses sells backs to direct managing of Barbi Spa. After Echo, Italia 99 and the long-lived Genesis models, a new one is Galileo. Introduced in 2008, it is a top range touring coach with a made in Italy design. It is initially produced in 12 m Hd version on Volvo chassis and, since 2009, in the three-axle variant from 13.8 m on Irisbus mechanical. About 20 yaers later, Barbi comes back to cooperate with the House of Turin.