Ciferal Condor: the Sao Paulo branch that took its own name

Ciferal Condor is the name by which the buses of Ciferal Paulista were sold after February 1982, when the Sao Paulo branch of the Ciferal coachbuilding firm adopted the Condor brand. The branch had been founded as a subsidiary in 1976, became an independent competitor in 1978 and disappeared in 1985, with its remains bought by a group that formed the Thamco company.

Ciferal Condor at a glance

Condor has no Wikipedia article of its own in any language that describes the bus company; its history is a section of the Portuguese Wikipedia article on Ciferal. Based on one source.

History of the Ciferal Condor

A branch in Sao Paulo

Ciferal was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1955 by Fritz Weissmann. By the middle of the 1970s the Ramos works was close to its capacity of 1,200 buses a year, and in 1976 Weissmann decided to open two more factories, one in Recife (Reciferal) and one in Sao Paulo (Ciferal Paulista). The Sao Paulo subsidiary was created in April 1976 and its direction was given to Fritz Neuberger, a photographer who had joined the Rio firm in its early years and worked his way up to director and minority shareholder; he received half of the shares of the new company.

From subsidiary to rival

When he took charge of Ciferal Paulista, Neuberger chose to leave Ciferal. He later acquired control of the subsidiary and made it effectively independent, which allowed him to build bus bodies from 1978 using all of Ciferal’s drawings and patents. The Sao Paulo firm then competed directly with the Rio company, offering identical vehicles at lower prices and with lower quality, and at the same time went to court to register the ‘Ciferal’ name for itself alone.

The dispute went further than the courts. Part of the vehicles made by Ciferal Paulista were sold under the Ciferal brand, which brought complaints from the Rio company and from customers of both firms. In February 1982 Ciferal Paulista changed its brand to Condor, and the two businesses were separated by name as well as by ownership.

Condor and its end

The Condor brand had a short life. The company entered concordata — a form of judicial recovery — in December 1983 and closed its doors in April 1985. Its bankrupt estate was bought by a group of Sao Paulo businessmen led by Antonio Thamer, who formed a new company under the name Thamco.

Ciferal itself survived the same years with difficulty: payments were delayed from late 1981, production was interrupted and restarted under a court administrator in December 1982, and in April 1986 the state of Rio de Janeiro took control of the company. The Condor brand, unlike Ciferal, did not come back.

Design and features

• A separate brand, not a model: Condor was the name of the Sao Paulo company that grew out of Ciferal Paulista.
• Shared designs: from 1978 the Sao Paulo works built bodies to the drawings and patents of the Rio firm.
• Direct competition: identical vehicles at lower prices, and a court attempt to register the Ciferal name exclusively.
• Legal separation: the rebranding of February 1982 ended the confusion between the two firms’ buses.

Ciferal Condor versions

• Ciferal Paulista (1976–1978): a subsidiary of the Rio company, directed by Fritz Neuberger.
• Independent Ciferal Paulista (1978–1982): bodies built to Ciferal designs, some sold under the Ciferal name.
• Condor (1982–1983): the brand after the February 1982 change.
• Condor in concordata (1983–1985): the final period before the works closed.

The Rio company and its models are described in the articles on the Ciferal GLS and the Ciferal Turquesa, and on the Ciferal collection page.

Sources

• Ciferal, Portuguese Wikipedia: Ciferal Paulista, the Condor brand, concordata and Thamco