Bus maker Marcopolo SA intends to expand in Europe in the next five years. The company’s medium-term objective is to improve market share from 1% to about 5% by producing approximately 1,000 vehicles a year.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more


To achieve this, Marcopolo has invested €500,000 in the last six months to expand and improve its unit in Portugal and to rebuild its plant located in Coimbra. The improvements were mainly new equipment and modernising production lines.


Marcopolo Portugal director Paulo Julio said the company’s objective is to have a strong presence in all of Europe, including in east Europe.


“Until today our activities have been basically restricted to the Benelux countries, Portugal, and some French islands (New Caledonia and Guadeloupe). With the increase in production capacity and with an expanded and renewed array of products, we have plans to increase our sales to England, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. We have plans to set up operations in Eastern Europe and Turkey.”


Marcopolo sees the European market as the most advanced technologically and the most competitive.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

“Every international bus maker needs to have operations in this market to be able to follow the fast and continuous changes and especially to learn from the elevated quality standards, and demands made by the local customers,” said company vice-president José Antonio Fernandes Martins.


Marcopolo has been in Europe for about a decade and the plant in Coimbra was its first outside of Brazil.


“After we set up in Europe, we continued our ‘internationalisation’ programme, developing units in emerging markets, with the greatest potential for growth seen in Africa, Latin America, and China. Now with our operations consolidated in these countries and having products to international standards, we are prepared to go forward in Europe,” added Martins.