Mercedes-Benz brought in more than 100 years of experience in the bus and coach industry, starting with the invention of the omnibus by Karl Benz in 1895 in Mannheim.

The city buses, for instance the Citaro, are manufactured in Mannheim, as are the chassis (meaning the frame plus the "running gear" like engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential, and suspension).

A body (sometimes referred to as "coachwork"), is built on the chassis to complete the coaches in Ulm/Neu-Ulm, where the final assembly takes place.

[citation needed] In April 1951, Setra introduced a coach with self-supporting structure.

By 1955 the company demonstrated a coach with the first independent air suspension at the German Motor Show in Frankfurt.