[1][2] It was the country's second-largest bus manufacturer[3] when it was acquired by Volvo, in 1998,[3] and renamed Volvo Buses de México, S.A.[1] MASA was created when the Mexican state-owned investment bank, SOMEX (Sociedad Mexicana de Crédito Industrial), acquired the private company, Sheppard Hnos.

The government sold the company to private investors on 17 October 1988, but the original buyer defaulted on its debt payments.

[2] The company had already ceased production before then,[4] and was reported by some transport media to have "gone out of business" during 1988,[5] but it was resold in November 1989 to an industrial group[2] and in 1993 underwent a restructuring.

[8] In addition to the purchase amount, Volvo indicated that it planned to invest an additional $80 million in MASA, over a two-year period,[9] to modify the Tultitlán facility[10] and add automobile production (starting in 1999), giving it access to this North American Free Trade Agreement region.

[11] Trolleybus production began after the company partnered in 1978 with Toshiba, for the latter to supply the electrical propulsion systems for the vehicles.