was presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil – the O 355 – in 1974. The OH 1517 rear-engine chassis was also presented that year. One year after the first three-axle bus was built in Brazil (based on the Mercedes-Benz LPO 1113 front-engine chassis) made its debut in 1977, the new O 364 integral bus was presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil in two versions – one with a 130-hp engine, and the other with a 170-hp engine. Also in 1978 the production of the O 362 was discontinued, after more than 35,100 units were produced in Brazil. Since the demand for buses was growing by that time, a new plant was inaugurated in Campinas (a city in São Paulo State, Brazil), dedicated only for the production of buses. This plant was considered the biggest and most modern plant dedicated for the production of buses in the Western World. Meanwhile, the plant in São Bernardo do Campo was still being expanded. In 1984 two new integral bus range were presented by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil. One of them was O 370 coach range, available in two- and three-axle versions. It was the first coach range produced by Mercedes-Benz do Brasil fitted with air suspension as standard. The other was the O 365 regular-service bus range. In 1987 the O 370 and O 365 bus ranges were succeeded by the O 371 range (made up by three coaches and three regular-service bus models). In 1991 the company inaugurates the Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico (or Technological Development Centre in English) in Brazil. This is, until today, the largest of its kind in Latin America. Some of the projects developed by the Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico in Brazil were the natural gas engine M-447 hLAG, used in the natural-gas-powered Citaro, and the cost-effective improvements made in the Axor truck worldwide. In 1994, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil presented the O 400 integral bus range, which included one standardised city bus, four coaches and the O 400 UPA articulated bus – the first articulated bus produced by Mercedes-Benz in Brazil, which came into production only in 1995. This vehicle featured an electronic-managed articulation developed by the company. In that same year, Mercedes-Benz reached an 85%-share in the commercial vehicles market in Brazil. In the following year, Mercedes-Benz do Brasil received the ISO 9001 and the VBA 6.1 certifications. In 1996 a new version of the O 371 integral bus for