Solaris

Taking stock of a company’s year is always a good opportunity to take a broader view of the industry and place the brand in a wider context.

Year after year, the electrification of transportation around the world and in Europe is making significant progress. The bus segment that is being electrified at a very fast rate when compared to other transport branches and is almost on track to meet the ambitious Net Zero goal in 2050 globally. 

“The market is blooming and it’s amazing to see it grow year on year. I am proud that we have demonstrated our resilience to market fluctuations and have returned to a path of stable growth and profitability. The good results reflect our collective efforts and commitment. The positive trends lead us to expect even better results in the coming months. With such an impressive order book, I am confident about our future.”

– said Javier Iriarte at the opening of the press conference. 

The pace of change has accelerated especially in Europe where the zero-emission market grew by +50% year-on-year.  

How does Solaris perform in this context?

The market-wide trend is reflected in company’s figures: Solaris doubled the number of Urbino electric and Urbino hydrogen deliveries to customers. One of the company’s more notable results is last year’s production mix, in which low- and zero-emission vehicles exceeded the 80% share – for the first time in the company’s history. An impressive 82% of our production was made up of battery electric vehicles, hydrogen and trolleybuses or hybrids, while zero-emission buses alone accounted for more than 50%. 

In 2023 Solaris sold a total of 1,456 vehicles. The company’s revenues reached 819M€, representing an increase of more than 18% compared to the previous year. 

3. POSITION IN THE EUROPEAN CITY BUS MARKET  

For the first time in our history, we stand on the podium of the European market for city buses in all driveline and lengths, capturing almost 10% of the market. 

2. POSITION IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET FOR ELECTRIC BUSES

Solaris took second place in the battery electric city bus market, one of our key strongholds. While the electric market grew by 50%, Solaris grew by 100%, doubling e-bus market growth. A market share of 14.2% accounts for exactly 725Solaris e-buses registered in 2023.  

1. POSITION IN THE EUROPEAN ZERO-EMISSION BUS MARKET

With a market share of 15.2%, Solaris is the European leader in zero-emission buses (both electric and hydrogen). What is more, we hold the leading position not only in 2023, but also in the total number of zero-emission buses delivered to the market since 2012!

„Solaris accepts the responsibility that comes with being a leader and holding the number one position in the zero-emission bus market. We are committed to setting industry standards, driving innovation, and creating cutting-edge products. This commitment reflects our continued pursuit of excellence and our willingness to shape the future of our industry. Solaris is proud to take responsibility for inspiring positive change and exceeding expectations”.

Javier Iriarte, Solaris CEO 

There is also a growing market interest in hydrogen technology, reflected in the number of Solaris hydrogen buses sold last year. More and more operators see hydrogen as the ultimate solution for their transport systems. Almost half (44.5%!) of all hydrogen buses registered in mainland Europe in 2023 were Solaris vehicles, demonstrating the company’s dominance in this field. The trend is set to continue. As of the end of 2023, we had an order intake of 535 hydrogen-powered vehicles to be delivered between 2024 and 2026. This includes the largest European order to date for 130 hydrogen buses for TPER Bologna. 

To meet growing demand and increase our production capacity, we have just opened a new hall dedicated to the production of hydrogen vehicles. This state-of-the-art facility will be the heart of hydrogen bus production.

We delivered our buses to customers in 17 European countries. The main markets were Poland, Spain, Italy, Norway, Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. It was a year in which we completed a number of significant contracts, including the delivery of 183 Urbino articulated electric buses to Oslo – the largest electric bus order ever.  

Notable new contracts included: 

• 98 Urbino electric buses for Cagliari in Sardinia under a framework agreement with Consip S.p.A.  
• 56 articulated Solaris Urbino 18 electric buses for the Danish operator AarBus  
• 50 Solaris Urbino 18 electric buses for Berlin’s BVG  
• 130 hydrogen buses for TPER in Bologna, the largest single order for hydrogen vehicles in Europe in history    
• 90 hydrogen buses for Azienda Veneziana della Mobilita, Venice  
• 10 hydrogen buses for In-der-City-Bus GmbH, Frankfurt am Main  
• 52 Solaris Urbino hydrogen buses for Rebus Regionalbus Rostock, Germany  
• 25 hydrogen buses for a public transport operator in Duisburg, Germany, as a first step towards a fully zero-emission fleet by 2030  
• New orders for a total of 38 hydrogen-powered articulated buses for Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK) in Germany  
• 36 Urbino 12 buses and two hydrogen articulated buses for Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB).