Setra is testing the next generation ComfortClass and TopClass coaches. They will be presented this year. Half a dozen new Setra touring coaches featuring camouflage decals are currently on the road in Finland's icy winter landscapes, on steep mountain roads in the Sierra Nevada mountains, in Gibraltar's humid heat, on round trips throughout Europe, undergoing endurance testing in Turkey, or even in a dusty gravel pit...
The high-deckers and super-high-deckers boast brightly-coloured paintwork and decals with ficticious names such as Cleo, Leyla, Lima or Zera – the names of the colours selected for their paintwork. The vehicles are undergoing tests between minus 40 and plus 40 degrees Celsius, sometimes empty and sometimes loaded with water-filled dummies and sand bags. Tests centre around innovative assistance systems and their interaction, new components, the effects of extreme humidity as well as extreme topography. All of these elements have also long since been simulated virtually and intensively tested on test stands.
Test engineers call what these Setra touring coaches are being put through on the road in real conditions an overall test, which is always the case when vehicles involve numerous new products. As Setra puts it in the press release: “The simple reason being, that if the vehicles can
withstand these extreme conditions, they will also work in everyday touring coach operations.” This next generation of Setra touring coaches – ComfortClass and TopClass 500 – will be introduced during 2022.