The PistenBully is the snow groomer of Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG, the Laupheim company that grew out of the old Kässbohrer vehicle works. The first machine was built in 1969, and the brand now supplies more than half of the tracked snow groomers used on the world’s ski slopes.
Kässbohrer PistenBully at a glance
| Maker | Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG, Laupheim |
|---|---|
| First built | 1969, at the Ulmer Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke |
| Type | tracked vehicle for grooming ski slopes and cross-country trails |
| World market share | over 50 per cent under the PistenBully brand |
| Share of company revenue | more than 90 per cent |
| 10,000th vehicle | delivered in 1998 |
| Vehicles built by 2009 | over 17,000 |
| Vehicles built by 2014 | 20,000 |
| Sold in 2009/2010 | 640 machines |
| Countries supplied | 68, including Azerbaijan for the first time in 2009/2010 |
| Company since 1994 | independent after a management buy-out |
| Listed | 1998–2015 |
Both Wikipedia articles describe the PistenBully in a section of the page about Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG; this page uses those sections. The two old records on this site were merged into one article.
History of the Kässbohrer PistenBully
The PistenBully began in Ulm, at the Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke: the first machine of the type was built there in 1969. When the Kässbohrer group was broken up in the mid-1990s, the snow and sand divisions left it in 1994 through a management buy-out and continued as Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG in Laupheim. The company was listed on the stock exchange from 1998 to 2015, when Ludwig Merckle’s LuMe holding, which already owned more than 95 per cent of the shares, bought out the minority shareholders for a total of 13.8 million euros and took it private.
The snow division became the heart of the business. It develops, manufactures, sells and services the machines that prepare ski slopes, and it accounts for more than 90 per cent of the company’s revenue; the German Wikipedia puts Kässbohrer’s share of the ski slope vehicle market at between 65 and 70 per cent, and the PistenBully brand alone at over 50 per cent of the world market.
Production reached its 10,000th vehicle in 1998. In 2007 the company took over Keiteleen Latukone Oy, a well-known Finnish maker of cross-country trail grooming machines. More than 17,000 vehicles had been built by 2009 and 20,000 by 2014. In the 2009/2010 season Kässbohrer sold 640 PistenBullys, and by then the machines had been delivered to 68 countries, Azerbaijan among them for the first time.
Design and features
- Tracked chassis: the PistenBully is a tracked off-road vehicle built to work on snow-covered ground and steep slopes.
- Slope and trail grooming: the machines prepare both alpine ski slopes and cross-country trails.
- Complete service: Kässbohrer develops, builds, sells and services the vehicles itself.
- Market leader: the brand holds more than half of the world market for ski slope machines.
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Kässbohrer PistenBully versions
- PistenBully 145: a used example was converted for firefighting in Oberlech in 1987 and served until 2018.
- PistenBully 300: in 2007 the Vorarlberg fire vehicle builder Marte turned a used machine into an over-snow fire engine.
- PistenBully 400 W: the basis for two firefighting tracked vehicles built for the Bundeswehr fire service and used on the Meppen training area.
- PistenBully 600 Polar: a high-performance model of the kind shown in the photograph from 2011.
More machines from the same maker are in the Kässbohrer collection.
Video: Kässbohrer PistenBully with a 4.5-tonne winch
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug, English Wikipedia: company history, PistenBully division, share of revenue
- Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug, German Wikipedia: first machine, production numbers, market share, firefighting conversions