Seida
Encyclopedia
Sociedad Española de Importación y Distribución de Automóviles (S.E.I.D.A. or, more commonly, Seida) was a Spanish
cars and trucks dealer and coachbuilder
that later evolved into making integral chassisless motorcoaches, and that in 1998 was subsumed into Evobus
.
, located in downtown main avenue, Gran Vía
, and known as Salón Chrysler, was noted by its luxury, serving even as sporadic art gallery
for some avant-garde
exhibitions. By the same years, Seida opened a new rationalist
repair shop and gas station building in Espronceda Street, by the renowned architect José de Azpiroz, that became a hall-mark of the modern architectural trends in Madrid.
In 1935 Seida began to assemble Chrysler's Dodge
trucks in a new plant built in Zorroza, on the docks of Bilbao
.
, Seida extended the premises in Zorroza with a new building to a Chrysler design, and switched to coachbuilding, the first bus chassis bodied being a hundred of German Klöckner
units released in 1942.
In those years Seida expanded its business to become shipowner, purchasing the merchant steamer Sendeja. On the other hand, the old links with Chrysler Corporation persisted until 1969, when Chrysler disembarked in Spain through the acquisition of Barreiros
.
By the 1950s Seida lead the Spanish market of coach bodies, having patented, as Metalbloc, an all-metal body structure. By then Seida became the preferred bodybuilder for Pegaso
, which was at the time the most pervasive bus and coach chassis maker in Spain. Specially memorable were its bodies for the Pegaso Z-404 coach or urban bus chassis, that used to receive a striking body which featured the same cross-shaped radiator grille
that Touring
put in its carrozzerie for the Pegaso Z-102
sports cars.
Along those years Seida most significant works were the bodies for, among others, Hispano-Suiza
trolleybuses for the city of San Sebastián
, Dodge
two-level coaches for Iberia
airliner, double-deck
Guy
and single-deck Pegaso buses for the city of Madrid, and ACLO and Pegaso inter-city line coaches for Alsa
.
to license-build Setra
chassisless coaches. These were equipped with Pegaso engines and other mechanical units and were marketed with simultaneous double badge as Setra Seida and Pegaso. Initially Seida built models S14 and S10 from Setra, the first one, a full-length 12-meter 55 seat vehicle, being with a great difference the most demanded. A few years later the S154, recently launched by Setra, replaced the S14 while the S10 was discontinued.
Despite being rather expensive, these coaches were very successful in the Spanish market, to the point that Seida opened a second plant in Vigo
. In the 1970s MAN, Mercedes-Benz
or Cummins
engines were offered as alternative power units to the Pegaso ones, and the Setra Seida and Pegaso badging was replaced by just Setra.
In 1981 Seida inaugurated a new modern plant in Castro Urdiales
, but soon ran into difficulties, including bitter disagreements with Kässbohrer, and suffered in the late 80s and early 90s a long and rather complex financial and legal process, which included several changes of the society registered name and ownership. The plant in Vigo meanwhile was sold to Talleres Varela Bus, a general auto repair shop.
's Evobus
concern and Seida successor company disappeared.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
cars and trucks dealer and coachbuilder
Coachbuilder
A coachbuilder is a manufacturer of bodies for carriages or automobiles.The trade dates back several centuries. Rippon was active in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Barker founded in 1710 by an officer in Queen Anne's Guards, Brewster a relative newcomer , formed in 1810. Others in Britain included...
that later evolved into making integral chassisless motorcoaches, and that in 1998 was subsumed into Evobus
EvoBus
EvoBus GmbH is a bus manufacturer, integrated into the Daimler AG Group. Setra is also a member of the EvoBus GmbH.-History:In 1995, Mercedes-Benz and Setra amalgamated under the umbrella of EvoBus...
.
Chrysler dealer
Seida was incorporated in 1925, and began as the Chrysler Corporation dealer for Spain. As such, it became very well known, and in the 1930s its main showroom in MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, located in downtown main avenue, Gran Vía
Gran Vía
Gran Vía is an ornate and upscale shopping street located in central Madrid. It leads from Calle de Alcalá, close to Plaza de Cibeles, to Plaza de España....
, and known as Salón Chrysler, was noted by its luxury, serving even as sporadic art gallery
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
for some avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
exhibitions. By the same years, Seida opened a new rationalist
Rationalism (architecture)
The intellectual principles of rationalism are based on architectural theory. Vitruvius had already established in his work De Architectura that architecture is a science that can be comprehended rationally. This formulation was taken up and further developed in the architectural treatises of the...
repair shop and gas station building in Espronceda Street, by the renowned architect José de Azpiroz, that became a hall-mark of the modern architectural trends in Madrid.
In 1935 Seida began to assemble Chrysler's Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
trucks in a new plant built in Zorroza, on the docks of Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
.
Coachbuilder
In the 1940s, after the Spanish Civil WarSpanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, Seida extended the premises in Zorroza with a new building to a Chrysler design, and switched to coachbuilding, the first bus chassis bodied being a hundred of German Klöckner
Magirus
Iveco Magirus AG is a truck manufacturer based in Ulm, Germany, founded by Conrad Dietrich Magirus . The company began manufacturing fire-fighting vehicles in 1864. In the late 1910s, it started the production of trucks and buses...
units released in 1942.
In those years Seida expanded its business to become shipowner, purchasing the merchant steamer Sendeja. On the other hand, the old links with Chrysler Corporation persisted until 1969, when Chrysler disembarked in Spain through the acquisition of Barreiros
Barreiros (manufacturer)
Barreiros was a Spanish manufacturer of engines, trucks, buses, tractors and automobiles.-Barreiros Diesel:The company was founded in 1954 as Barreiros Diesel S.A. by Eduardo Barreiros and based in Madrid...
.
By the 1950s Seida lead the Spanish market of coach bodies, having patented, as Metalbloc, an all-metal body structure. By then Seida became the preferred bodybuilder for Pegaso
Pegaso
Pegaso was a Spanish make of trucks, omnibuses, tractors, armored vehicles, and, for a while, sports cars. The parent company, Enasa, was created in 1946 and based in the old Hispano-Suiza factory, under the direction of the renowned automotive engineer Wifredo Ricart...
, which was at the time the most pervasive bus and coach chassis maker in Spain. Specially memorable were its bodies for the Pegaso Z-404 coach or urban bus chassis, that used to receive a striking body which featured the same cross-shaped radiator grille
Grille
A grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-Spelling:In the United States, "grille" is used to differentiate the automotive...
that Touring
Carrozzeria Touring
Carrozzeria Touring is an automobile coachbuilder established on March 25, 1926 in Milan, Italy by Felice Bianchi Anderloni and Gaetano Ponzoni...
put in its carrozzerie for the Pegaso Z-102
Pegaso Z-102
The Pegaso Z-102 was a sports car coupé produced in Spain between 1951 and 1958.-Background:Pegaso was an established company noted for its trucks and motor coaches, but also produced sports cars for seven years...
sports cars.
Along those years Seida most significant works were the bodies for, among others, Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza
Hispano-Suiza was a Spanish automotive and engineering firm, best known for its luxury cars and aviation engines in the pre-World War II period of the twentieth century. In 1923, its French subsidiary became a semi-autonomous partnership with the parent company and is now part of the French SAFRAN...
trolleybuses for the city of San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
, Dodge
Dodge
Dodge is a United States-based brand of automobiles, minivans, and sport utility vehicles, manufactured and marketed by Chrysler Group LLC in more than 60 different countries and territories worldwide....
two-level coaches for Iberia
Iberia Airlines
Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España, S.A., commonly known as Iberia, is the flag carrier airline of Spain. Based in Madrid, it operates an international network of services from its main bases of Madrid-Barajas Airport and Barcelona El Prat Airport....
airliner, double-deck
Double-decker bus
A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or 'decks'. Global usage of this type of bus is more common in outer touring than in its intra-urban transportion role. Double-decker buses are also commonly found in certain parts of Europe, Asia, and former British colonies and protectorates...
Guy
Guy Motors
Guy Motors was a British company based in Fallings Park, Wolverhampton that made cars, lorries, buses, and trolleybuses.-History:Guy Motors Ltd was founded in 1914 by Sydney Guy who had been the Works Manager of nearby Sunbeam. A factory was built on the site at Fallings Park, Wolverhampton...
and single-deck Pegaso buses for the city of Madrid, and ACLO and Pegaso inter-city line coaches for Alsa
ALSA (bus company)
ALSA is a Spanish subsidiary of the UK company National Express Group, which operates bus and coach services in Spain and other countries across Europe, including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,...
.
The Kässbohrer connection
In 1963 Seida reached an agreement with German KässbohrerKässbohrer
Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke was a German vehicle manufacturer in Ulm. Its products were buses, coaches, vehicle transporters, trailers and special vehicles like snow groomer vehicles....
to license-build Setra
Setra
Setra is a Neu-Ulm, Germany-based manufacturer of commercial buses and touring coaches, and recently a subsidiary of Daimler AG.The name "Setra" comes from "Selbsttragend"...
chassisless coaches. These were equipped with Pegaso engines and other mechanical units and were marketed with simultaneous double badge as Setra Seida and Pegaso. Initially Seida built models S14 and S10 from Setra, the first one, a full-length 12-meter 55 seat vehicle, being with a great difference the most demanded. A few years later the S154, recently launched by Setra, replaced the S14 while the S10 was discontinued.
Despite being rather expensive, these coaches were very successful in the Spanish market, to the point that Seida opened a second plant in Vigo
Vigo
Vigo is a city and municipality in north-west Spain, in Galicia, situated on the ria of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean.-Population:...
. In the 1970s MAN, Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...
or Cummins
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Fortune 500 corporation that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission control and electrical power generation systems...
engines were offered as alternative power units to the Pegaso ones, and the Setra Seida and Pegaso badging was replaced by just Setra.
In 1981 Seida inaugurated a new modern plant in Castro Urdiales
Castro Urdiales
Castro Urdiales is a seaport of northern Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, situated on the bay of Biscay.Castro Urdiales is a modern town, although its castle and the Gothic-style parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, date from the Middle Ages. Its chief industries are...
, but soon ran into difficulties, including bitter disagreements with Kässbohrer, and suffered in the late 80s and early 90s a long and rather complex financial and legal process, which included several changes of the society registered name and ownership. The plant in Vigo meanwhile was sold to Talleres Varela Bus, a general auto repair shop.
The end
In 1998 the Castro Urdiales plant went to the hands of Daimler-BenzDaimler-Benz
Daimler-Benz AG was a German manufacturer of automobiles, motor vehicles, and internal combustion engines; founded in 1926. An Agreement of Mutual Interest - which was valid until year 2000 - was signed on 1 May 1924 between Karl Benz's Benz & Cie., and Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft, which had...
's Evobus
EvoBus
EvoBus GmbH is a bus manufacturer, integrated into the Daimler AG Group. Setra is also a member of the EvoBus GmbH.-History:In 1995, Mercedes-Benz and Setra amalgamated under the umbrella of EvoBus...
concern and Seida successor company disappeared.