MASA (company)
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| Public limited company, S.A. | |
| Fate | Acquired by Volvo |
| Successor | Volvo Buses de México, S.A. |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Defunct | 1998 |
| Headquarters | Tultitlán, Mexico |
| Products | Buses, trolleybuses, highway coaches |
Mexicana de Autobuses, S.A., or MASA, was a major bus and coach manufacturer located in Mexico. Formed in 1959, it was owned by the Mexican government until being privatized in 1988. It was the country's second-largest bus manufacturer when it was acquired by Volvo, in 1998, and renamed Volvo Buses de México, S.A.
MASA was created when the Mexican state-owned investment bank, SOMEX (Sociedad Mexicana de Crédito Industrial), acquired the private company, Sheppard Hnos. (Sheppard Brothers), on 10 September 1959. In 1972 the company built a new factory in Tultitlán, and this facility was expanded in 1980. Somex continued to be a major shareholder in the company, and buses built by MASA often carried "Somex" nameplates on the front.
The government sold the company to private investors on 17 October 1988, but the original buyer defaulted on its debt payments. The company had already ceased production before then, and was reported by some transport media to have "gone out of business" during 1988, but it was resold in November 1989 to an industrial group and in 1993 underwent a restructuring. Production continued during this period, as evidenced by the delivery of 30 new MASA trolleybuses to Mexico City's STE in 1991.
Volvo Buses acquired MASA for US$74 million in September 1998, renaming it Volvo Buses de México and continuing production in the same factory, the then 153,000 sq ft (14,200 m2) plant in Tultitlán. In addition to the purchase amount, Volvo indicated that it planned to invest an additional $80 million in MASA, over a two-year period, to modify the Tultitlán facility and add automobile production (starting in 1999), giving it access to this North American Free Trade Agreement region. At the time of its acquisition by Volvo, MASA's owners were Mexican bus manufacturer DINA S.A., Brazilian bus-body maker Carrocerias Nielson (Busscar) and individuals on MASA's board of directors.
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