MOBIpeople
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
 A 2019 MOBIpeople Explorer 330 | |
| Company type | Sociedade Anónima (S.A.) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Commercial vehicles |
| Founded | February 2008 |
| Headquarters | Coimbra, Portugal |
Key people | António Catarino (CEO) |
| Products | Buses and coaches |
| Revenue | €6.2 million (2019) |
Number of employees | 75 (2019) |
| Website | www.mobipeople.pt/en/home/ |
MOBIpeople is a bus and coach manufacturer based in Coimbra, Portugal. The company was founded in 2008 and primarily produces minibuses, midibuses and their coach equivalents.[1] MOBIpeople is the third largest Portuguese bus manufacturer after CaetanoBus and Carroçarias Irmãos Mota. It occupies the space of the former Marcopolo bus factory in Coimbra.[2]
MOBIpeople has seen strong import sales in the United Kingdom in the late 2010s and early 2020s, following an import partnership with BASE Coach Sales of Preston which commenced in 2014.
MOBIpeople was founded in Coimbra in February 2008 by chief executive officer António Catarino and directors Paula Matos, Nuno Mendes and Alexandre Meireles, initially as a company providing bus repairs before moving into bus manufacturing. All four of the partners who founded MOBIpeople had previously worked at the Marcopolo bus factory in Coimbra before it closed down during the 2000s.[1] MOBIpeople were initially based out of a small workshop in the Adémia area of Coimbra.[1]
The first export sales for MOBIpeople were rugged MOBIpeople Tropic off-road bodies which were exported to Angola.[1] In 2009, the MOBIpeople Junior minibus model was introduced, and sales in Belgium, France, Iceland and the Netherlands followed.[1]
The Government of Bermuda ordered 21 MOBIpeople City-bodied MAN NLxx3F low-floor city buses for the island's transportation department in 2014, marking one of MOBIpeople's first overseas contracts.[1] A second batch of four similar vehicles was ordered and delivered to Bermuda in 2018, with improvements based on feedback from the first batch of vehicles including an increase in the seated passenger capacity by one to 39.[3]
In 2014, MOBIpeople signed a deal with BASE Coach Sales, a subsidiary of Holmeswood Coaches of Preston, for the supply of vehicles to the British market; MOBIpeople would manufacture vehicles to order, which would be marketed and sold to operators in the United Kingdom by BASE Coach Sales. BASE were already an established importer and reseller of coaches, having previously partnered with Barbi, Beulas, Marcopolo and Tata Hispano.[4] By 2019, the British market made up 60% of MOBIpeople's entire sales volume.[1]
By 2019, MOBIpeople had grown to have 75 employees working at their new 3,400 square metres (37,000 sq ft) factory located in the Souselas industrial area of Coimbra.[1] The company had an annual turnover of €6.2 million, more than 75% of which was generated by exports.[1]
