Morodadi Prima

Morodari Prima began as a body shop business pioneered by Lie Tjien Poen, also known as Lie Bambang Gunawan, in 1964. Before establishing his own business, he worked at the Tanaking body shop.^[a] located in Ciptomulyo, Sukun, Malang.^[1] At the Tanaking workshop, Lie, who is a graduate of the fine arts academy, studied body assembly and was trusted by the owner of Tanaking to manage the production process to the marketing of the bodywork. The assembly process carried out in the workshop still uses simple materials made of wood and thin plates. ^[1] Since the 1970s, Morodadi bodywork has made various types of small commercial vehicles, including Mitsubishi Colt T120, Suzuki ST20, Toyota HiAce^[2] to Mitsubishi L300. ^[3]

Lie Bambang Gunawan pioneered his own assembly business, through a partnership with Tanaking, called Tanaking Morodadi, until he launched his own business under the name CV Morodadi in 1977.^[1] On a three-hectare plot of land adjacent to the Tanaking workshop, Lie began his production by manually building simple bus bodies using Chevrolet bus chassis. Then in 1993, CV Morodadi was formed as a limited liability company business entity under the name PT Morodadi Prima and began producing buses.^[3] In 1997, Morodadi moved to a new four-hectare location in Singosari, Malang, along with increasing production capacity and demand levels, until then it developed into producing various kinds of small buses and medium buses using Mitsubishi and Isuzu Elf chassis, then producing large buses built on Mercedes Benz, Scania to Volvo chassis.^[1] In 2019, Morodadi Prima began marketing double decker bus products which were launched at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) 2019 automotive exhibition at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD City, Tangerang.^[b][4] Then released a sleeper bus at the end of 2023.^[c][5]

Following the passing of Lie Bambang Gunawan in 2021, Morodadi Prima's management passed to the second generation, with Davie Lie serving as the company's President Director. ^[1]

Morodadi Prima's bodywork products include various variants of small, medium, and large buses, generally used as passenger transportation, including city buses, tourist buses, and intercity and interprovincial buses. This includes the development of bodywork for special vehicles such as public service buses, airport buses, special tourist buses, and ambulances.

Previous large bus variants that were popularly used by bus companies, such as the Travego series,^[6] the Zonda series and the Vermont series,^[2] updated with the following variants and series:

Morodadi Prima's bus production releases include body codes that are tailored to the model variant, release year, and tonnage capacity. ^[8]

The appearance of the bus body designed by Morodadi Prima was inspired by the European-style Daimler Setra bus and did not have many sharp corners that gave an aggressive impression. Morodadi Prima also adopted the double-glass trend with a thin glass partition, so as not to interfere with the view of passengers in the front. ^[10] The New Patriot series released in 2019 also adopted a European bus style appearance with a simple design and large headlamps and separate front turn signals. Located above the headlights, without any side scarves, as was the trend at the time. ^[11]

In July 2025, Morodadi Prima released the "Diamante," a development and new version of the "Patriot" series. Unlike previous variants, the Diamante's design and layout are inspired by the Marcopolo G8 bus model made by the Brazilian manufacturer, Marcopolo S.A., including the use of headlights and taillights. ^[12]

In 2015, Morodadi Prima created a special tour bus for use as a tour bus in Malang City. The procurement of this open-top double-decker bus is part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of a private company managed by the Malang City Government. The bus design, nicknamed "Macyto", an abbreviation of "Malang City Tour", is green with round lights and a classic, old-fashioned bus appearance. ^[13]

Since the 1980s, Morodadi Prima has collaborated with the bus company Anas Nasional Sejahtera (ANS) from West Sumatra, which operates routes from Java to cities in Sumatra, primarily cities in the West Sumatra region via the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road.^[14] In 2021, ANS also updated its fleet using the New Patriot body released by Morodadi Prima since 2019.^[15] Until 2022, the entire ANS bus fleet uses various types of body variants made by Morodadi Prima.^[16] In addition to ANS, the New Patriot is also used by the Java-Sumatra bus company, namely Miyor^[17] and Antar Lintas Sumatera (ALS),^[18] including the bus company Safari Dharma Raya, most of whose bus fleet also uses Morodadi Prima buses besides Adi Putro Jetbus series, also as the first user of double decker bus built on a Mercedes-Benz three-axle chassis OH-2542.^[19]

As a mode of land transportation, Morodadi Prima buses are widely used by bus companies including Ramayana, Haryanto,^[20] Eka and Mira, EZRI, Kramat Djati, Medali Mas, Sumber Waras Putra and the bus company from West Sumatra, Transport Express Jaya.^[21] Juragan 99 Trans is recorded as the first user of the sleeper bus released by Morodadi Prima at the end of 2023 which will be used to cover the Malang-Denpasar route. The bus is built on a Mercedes-Benz OH-1626 chassis.^[22]

At the end of 2020, Morodadi Prima launched the "Upgrade Your Bus" program, which is to update the appearance of the bus (rebody) by changing the front, rear and sides of the bus with the latest series. The renewal of the Putra Remaja bus fleet through the program, updated the appearance of the bus that previously used the Travego body to Ventura^[23] and Safari Dharma Raya which updated the body of the 2013 edition of Grand Tourismo Panoramic, which changed the appearance of the front of the bus and the model of the headlights.^[24]

• 
  Sumber Waras Putra uses the Travego body model.
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  The Adhi Prima bus uses the Patriot model body, variant TU247M.
• 
  The Ramayana bus uses the Ventura model body.
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  The Anas Nasional Sejahtera bus uses the New Patriot model body.
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  Ramayana uses a Tourismo body variant.
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  Bimo Transport uses a Grand Tourismo body variant.
• 
  Ezri uses a Tourismo body variant.
• 
  Safari Dharma Raya uses a Satria body variant.