A story less familiar to the general public is that of the buses produced south of the Danube. Bulgaria made only modest attempts at industrialization, without communist leaders making it a central objective, as happened in Romania. The massive subsidies received from the USSR were sufficient for Bulgaria to outperform its neighbors economically, despite having fewer natural and economic resources.
The history of Chavdar begins in 1924, when a small vehicle repair workshop was founded in the town of Botevgrad, located 65 kilometers from the capital, Sofia. After the Second World War, with the establishment of the communist regime, the facility was nationalized and transformed into a state-owned factory. In 1956, the plant received the name Chavdar, after the outlaw and folk hero Chavdar (Чавдар), a symbol of struggle and independence for the Bulgarian people.
Founded by Racho Dzhambov, the company that would later become “Chavdar” produced around 200 buses between 1927 and 1947, using chassis supplied by Ford Motor Company, Mercedes-Benz, and Dodge.
In 1948, the company was nationalized. Initially, it produced buses on Škoda 706 RTO chassis, later shifting to licensed production of Setra and Steyr buses. Chavdar collaborated with Western manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz and Setra, using licensed chassis and technologies adapted to conditions in Eastern Europe. Among the most well-known models were Chavdar 11M3, Chavdar 5C, Chavdar 120, and Chavdar 130.
In 1966, the new models M80 (city bus) and M81 (intercity coach) were introduced, once again based on Škoda chassis. In 1968, between 400 and 500 units were produced. The same year, the factory began an extensive modernization process. The introduction of new machinery, a modern work strategy, and new workplaces was seen as the key to the company’s future success.
An important chapter in Chavdar’s history is the contract with the German coachbuilder Setra. In 1974, the company began production of the 11G5 (city bus) and 11M3 (suburban bus), based on the contemporary Setra S100 series. Although the vehicles closely resembled their German counterparts, they were adapted to the Škoda 706 RTO chassis, resulting in buses without a direct equivalent in Setra’s own lineup.
Similarly to the Setra S150, Chavdar developed the 11M4 intercity bus, equipped with a Hungarian Rába D2156HM6U engine, which won several awards at international fairs. These models represented the company’s greatest success.
At the end of the 1970s, the Chavdar 5C midibus was designed by Kiril Hadjiev and Lubomir Toshev, with the first prototypes tested in 1979. The bus was powered by a Perkins engine and had 16 seats. It is known as the world’s first series-produced 4×4 bus. This model was widely used in small towns and villages across Bulgaria for public transport, school transport, and worker transport.
In 1984, Chavdar signed a contract with the Austrian company Steyr-Daimler-Puch for the licensed production of city and suburban buses, with production scheduled to begin in 1988. The 130 model (solo city bus) was built in a small series of around 15 units, while the 140 (articulated city bus) and 330 (solo suburban bus) were produced only as single prototypes.
Based on these, Chavdar developed the 120 and 141 models, equipped with MAN engines, which had no direct equivalent in Steyr’s model range. A trolleybus prototype using the body of the Chavdar 130 was also built.
The trolleybus prototype, with fleet number 2525, entered service in Sofia’s trolleybus network in 1993 and remained in operation until 2010, when it was scrapped.
Chavdar exported its production to the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Greece, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Nicaragua.
