Tata Hispano - History

History

The company was founded in 1947 by D. Vincenzo Angelino Gervasio (an engineer of Neapolitan origin) and his wife Felisa Pueyo as Talleres Nápoles in Zaragoza, Spain. It was originally devoted to repairs, welding and metalwork on post-war trucks, but the company also developed its own design for a "unique truck cabin", which could be mounted on any chassis, and which was very successful. This success allowed the company to expand and move to a 3,000 m2 workshop, where it built its first bus in 1958 and its first double-decker bus in 1960. In 1962, the company moves again to newly built installations on the N-II road, becoming Factorías Nápoles, S.A., and begins to sell vehicles under its own brand, "Nazar" (an conflation of "Naples" and "Zaragoza"), in Spain and abroad. But in 1964, financial problems force the founder, Vicenzo Angelino, to leave the company, which changed its name again to Fabricaciones Industriales S.A.. In 1966, the company became part of Barreiros Diesel, S.A., which was in turn purchased by Chrysler in 1969, forming Chrysler España, S.A.. The bus and bodywork part of Chrysler España was then sold to Van Hool España, S.A. in 1971, which was later renamed to Hispano Carrocera, S.A.L. in 1983. The company manufactured Van Hool buses under license until developing the Hispano Carrocera brand in the late 1980s.

In 2005, sensing an opportunity in the fully built bus segment, Tata Motors from Mumbai acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera SA, the leading European bus and coach cabin maker. In 2009, the Tata acquired the remaining 79% of in Hispano Carrocera for an undisclosed sum, making it a fully owned subsidiary, subsequently renamed Tata Hispano.