Major Olten vehicle marque that evolved from Josef Wyss's pioneering cars into Swiss trucks, buses, trolleybuses and military vehicles before integration with Saurer and NAW

Berna
Identity / Wikimedia Commons
39models on record
1902–1976recorded span
Model activity by decade
1900s1970s
About the marque
Founded
1902 – 1982
Headquarters
Olten, Switzerland

Engineer Josef Wyss built his first automobile at Bern in 1902 and named it Berna after the city. Twelve examples of the initial rear-engined single-cylinder design were produced in 1902–03, including the surviving Vis-à-Vis Idéal. The front-engined, chain-drive Unicum followed in 1903. Wyss moved manufacture to Olten in 1904, added light touring cars, buses and two- and three-ton trucks in 1905, and reorganized the business as Motor-Werke Berna AG in 1906. After Wyss's departure and a period under British control as Berna Commercial Motors, passenger-car production ended in 1908 and the company concentrated on commercial vehicles and exports. Swiss investors restored local ownership in 1912 as Motorwagenfabrik Berna AG. Berna developed C, E, G and L truck families before financial pressure brought Saurer majority control in 1929. The badge remained active on vehicles broadly parallel to Saurer's range: U-series trucks corresponded to Saurer C types from 1936, and V-series vehicles to Saurer D types from the 1960s. Berna also co-developed the 2UM and 4UM military trucks, created the rear-engined integral 2H coach and underfloor-engined buses in 1952, built 1,600 2VM four-wheel-drive trucks from 1964–76, and manufactured 131 two-axle or articulated trolleybuses for Swiss systems between 1940 and 1967. Metal-treatment diversification began in 1965 under the Bernex name. Vehicle assembly moved from Olten to Saurer at Arbon in 1974 and was fully taken over in 1976. Berna's remaining activities joined Saurer and FBW in NAW in 1982; the Olten industrial successor continued in surface engineering and was separated into Bernex Bimetall and IonBond after the Saurer Group's 2003 sale. The vehicle catalog ends with the historical Berna-badged program and excludes later vehicles merely carrying confusing aftermarket or database labels.

Text adapted from “Berna” on Wikipedia ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Catalog

39 models

models
Unknown
2 US

Documented Swiss Army type with a preserved museum example; exact dates are not securely recovered.

CURATED
Unknown
5D

Late Berna heavy truck retained from the model register without reliable production dates.

CURATED
Unknown
5SF / S2VF

Late heavy-commercial derivatives whose detailed chronology remains unresolved.

CURATED
Unknown
E4 NOF

Distinct E4 NOF subtype, not conflated with E4 NOP; chronology and payload specification remain unresolved.

CURATED
Unknown
E4 NOP

Documented E4 subtype; NOP suffix is retained exactly. Accessible sources preserve no defensible production years or technical table.

CURATED
Unknown
E5

Documented E-series type whose exact dates and specification are not recoverable from the accessible register.

CURATED
Unknown
G6 / G6 MSR

G6 family and its MSR derivative are preserved together because accessible evidence does not establish an independent generation chronology for the…

CURATED
Unknown
L1k

Short or specialized L1 derivative; the suffix and distinct listing are preserved although exact dates are unavailable.

CURATED
Unknown
L275/10

Documented military truck preserved in the Zug Depot of Technical History; production chronology and detailed specification are unresolved.

CURATED
Unknown
L2k

Distinct L2 derivative with unresolved production chronology.

CURATED
Unknown
L3

Intermediate L-series type retained from the historical model register.

CURATED
Unknown
N

Historically listed Berna truck family retained without manufactured dates or mechanical specifications.

CURATED
Unknown
U39 D

Specific U-series designation preserved by the model register; exact dates and payload are unresolved.

CURATED
1902–1903
Vis-à-Vis Idéal

Berna's first production car; twelve vehicles of the opening Berna design were built across 1902–03, although no trustworthy model-level split…

CURATED
1903–1905
Unicum

Successor passenger car that moved the engine to the front. The accessible record preserves neither cylinder count nor displacement, so those details…

CURATED
1905–1908
Berna légère

Light passenger-car range made alongside Berna's first trucks and buses. Passenger manufacture ended under English control in 1908, despite broader…

CURATED
1906–1908
G1 / Vanguard

Early export-era truck known both as G1 and Vanguard; treated as one type because the sources present the names as equivalents rather than separate…

CURATED
1908–1918
C2

Long-lived C-series truck. Sources variously date the military production concentration to 1914–17 and illustrate a 1918 vehicle; the inclusive span…

CURATED
1920–1929
C

One of the principal independent 1920s truck families; detailed subtypes and exact endpoints are not preserved in the accessible chronology.

CURATED
1920–1929
E

Independent 1920s E-series commercial chassis and parent identity for the documented E4 and E5 derivatives.

CURATED
1930–1934
G5

Heavy G-series truck photographed and registered around 1930; exact introduction and withdrawal years remain approximate.

CURATED
1930–1934
L1

Opening L-series truck of the early 1930s.

CURATED
1932–1934
L2

Second L-series truck, explicitly documented for 1932.

CURATED
1934–1936
L4

1934 L-series truck preceding the Saurer-derived U family.

CURATED
1934–1936
L5

Larger 1934 L-series type.

CURATED
1934–1936
L5a

Documented L5 derivative introduced with the 1934 range.

CURATED
1936–1959
U Series

Berna's post-1936 U family corresponded broadly to Saurer's C types after Saurer acquired control; individual Berna payload classes remain separately…

CURATED
1940–1959
1U

One-ton-class U-series commercial chassis.

CURATED
1940–1959
2U

Two-class U-series chassis, distinct from the later all-wheel-drive 2UM.

CURATED
1940–1959
4U / 4UL

Four-class U chassis and its long-wheelbase UL derivative.

CURATED
1940–1959
5U / 5UM

Heavy U chassis and documented UM derivative.

CURATED
1950–1958
2UM

Swiss Army off-road truck developed jointly by Berna, Saurer and FKW; radio-vehicle bodies were applications of the same chassis.

CURATED
1950–1958
4UM

Heavier companion to the 2UM joint Swiss military program.

CURATED
1952–1959
2H

Self-supporting touring coach introduced in 1952, separate from the same year's underfloor-engined bus development.

CURATED
1952–1959
Underfloor-Engine Bus

Berna's first bus with a centrally mounted underfloor engine; accessible sources do not preserve a dependable type code.

CURATED
1960–1976
V Series

1960s successor to the U family, corresponding broadly to Saurer's D range and including separately registered 5V derivatives.

CURATED
1964–1976
2VM

Berna counterpart to the Saurer 2DM. Exactly 1,600 were manufactured across the documented 1964–76 run.

CURATED · RDW
1965–1966
4 GTP

Articulated trolleybus chassis supplied to Geneva, Winterthur and Schaffhausen with bodies/equipment from firms such as SWS, SWP, SAAS, BBC and MFO.…

CURATED
1973–1976
5V / 5VF

Late heavy V-series family documented for 1973, including the VF derivative.

CURATED