Why are bus engines in the back? Volvo and Scania

Why are bus engines in the back? If we talk about bus brands in India, then the names of companies like Tata, Ashok Leyland and Eicher come up and almost all of their buses have a special feature. In these, we find the engine installed in the front. These brands have very few options for rear engine buses.

If you have noticed, the luxury bus brands like Volvo, Mercedes or Scania have their engines placed on the rear side. And seeing this, you must have wondered at some point why luxury bus brands do this? What benefit do they get by doing this?

And why are Tata or Ashok Leyland afraid of using rear engines in their buses despite being such big bus brands? Even today, almost all of their buses are front engined.

If you know, Ashok Leyland was the first one to introduce a rear engine bus in India. So in this video, we will discuss all this in detail. You will have a lot of fun just reading this article till the end.

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When did rear engine buses start?

So in 1895 Mercedes Benz made the first rear engine bus, which was a six seater bus. After this, other bus brands also liked this concept and started using it in their buses. But Volvo and Scania brought revolution in rear engine buses.

Volvo launched its B10R in 1970, while Scania introduced its AR in 1980. Both of these were rear-engined buses. In India, for the first time in 1978, Ashok Leyland manufactured a rear-engined bus and the name of this bus was Cheetah.

Do not underestimate Tata Ashok Leyland. Call it Cheetah. After this, Volvo entered India in 2001 and launched rear engine buses one after the other. Today in 2025, Volvo’s entire lineup is full of rear engine buses.

Even in the buses of other luxury brands, we find the engine at the rear. Today, almost all bus brands are following this concept. And people also prefer to travel in such buses.

But brother, now the question arises that what is so special in rear engine buses that it is becoming so popular.

Why are bus engines in the back

So look, bus brands use rear engines for these two reasons. The first of which is better comfort. If you have noticed, in front engine buses, the driver sits right on top of the engine. Due to which he gets troubled by vibration and overheating.

Even if he goes home, he still feels like he is still driving a vehicle. But when the engine is mounted at the rear of the bus, the vibration of the engine does not reach inside the bus and the heat generated by the engine also remains outside the bus instead of entering it.

Apart from this, due to the rear engine, there is a lot of space in the front cabin as well. Due to which the driver and conductor can enjoy in full comfort. The second reason is better power. Look, whether the bus is rear engined or front engined, the power always goes to the rear wheel.

In front engine buses, power is sent to the rear wheel through a shaft whose length depends on the bus. As the length of this shaft increases, the less power we get at the rear wheel.

Therefore, the company cannot make these buses longer as this will result in greater power loss.

But the solution to this problem is rear engine buses. In this type of buses, the engine is near the rear wheel due to which there is almost no loss of power.

The company can make these buses as long as it wants. Due to the rear engine, the weight remains on the rear wheel due to which their grip remains good on the roads.

Due to good power and traction, these buses perform well even in hilly areas. That is why today the brand and passengers prefer these buses more.

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Why big company like Tata doesn’t make rear engine bus ?

If something has advantages, it also has disadvantages. The maintenance cost of a rear engine bus is higher than a front engine bus because in these we get automatic transmission which is more expensive to maintain than a manual transmission.

And the brakes and suspension in these buses are also electronically controlled and repairing them is an expensive process. Apart from this, the condition of roads in India is also not so good which sends these buses to the service center before time.

And since the engine is placed on the rear side, there is a cooling problem because the engine does not get natural air like the front engine base. To solve this, an expensive cooling system has to be installed in it, and if by mistake a problem arises, the local mechanic cannot even repair it.

Because these require special mechanics and safety also gets compromised a bit in the rear engine base.

Due to the engine being placed on the rear side, good safety is provided in case of an accident from the rear. But if the accident happens from the front, then there is nothing except the chassis to bear the impact, which puts the life of the driver and the passengers sitting in the cabin at risk.

So this is also a disadvantage of these rear engine BUS. Apart from these, there are some disadvantages for the manufacturers as well which prevent them from making rear engine BUS, like Tata or Ashok Leyland etc.

Manufacturing a rear engine BUS is a very expensive process, as these buses are mostly based on monocoque chassis, which is more expensive than the normal ladder on frame chassis. Also, high technology and engineering is required to manufacture a rear engine BUS.

Better research is required to connect their automatic transmission to the engine, for which hiring engineers is costly for the brands. That is true. Apart from this, Tata and Ashok Leyland’s history with rear engine buses has also not been good.

Because there have been many issues regarding reliability in these buses. In 2010, when DTC used Tata’s rear engine buses, these buses had to face issues like overheating problem and electronic failure. And the same thing happened with Ashok Leyland in 2010.

When KSRTC used their low floor rear engine buses. So now KSRTC has stopped using their buses. Apart from this, competition is also a big problem due to which companies like TATA do not make buses with rear engines in today’s time.