Inventor of the turntable ladder
Italians separate from German fire service company
8/3/2023 4:06 p.m
Magirus has been manufacturing fire engines for more than 150 years. The owner wants to sell the traditional company from Ulm. Interested parties should also come from Japan.
Iveco, an Italian manufacturer of trucks and buses, is getting serious: The world’s most traditional fire service company, Magirus from Ulm, is to be sold. Two weeks ago, the Italian owners announced their intention, now CEO Gerrit Marx followed up on the presentation of the group’s half-year figures: There are already talks with various interested parties. According to the “Neu-Ulmer Zeitung”, the Japanese fire engine manufacturer Morita is being traded as a potential investor.
The reason for the sale are the red numbers of the traditional German company. According to the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, the losses amounted to 30 to 40 million euros a year. According to Magirus, it is active in 150 countries and has around 1,000 employees at its main location in Ulm.
Magirus GmbH emerged from the company founded by Conrad Dietrich Magirus in 1866, which manufactured fire engines. He was also the founder of the volunteer fire brigade in Ulm. Magirus is credited with inventing the turntable ladder. Today Magirus builds fire engines, ladders, pumps and fire protection equipment.