Setra S515 NF Design Sketch + Render

So, I told you a couple of days ago that I’m not only into cars, but also into busses. I don’t know how much you know about them, but I will try to explain it to you why I made this sketch and render.

Let’s start with the basics: Setra, in case you never heard of it, is a German bus manufacturer of the EvoBus group, so in other words it belongs to Mercedes. They are mainly known for their coaches: the so-called “Topclass” lineup, of which the current “500”-generation models are the newest ones.

But Setra is not only making coaches, they also produce city busses - the most popular being their S415 NF. That’s an old model of the 400-Series though, which launched in 2006 and was made until 2013. Then it had to be killed off due to emissions regulations, and Setra launched a successor - but not a “S515 NF” as I would have hoped, as I really like the design of the new 500-series.

No, instead they made a completely new model, but still in the design language of the outdated 400-series: The “S415 LE Business”. And BOI, is it hideous. To me it looks like Setra still had some left over S415 NF city busses and 415 GT-HD coaches which nobody wanted to buy anymore - and so they just cut all of them in half and connected the front end of a city bus to the rear end of a coach, with some black paint below the windows to “hide” the height difference. Sadly, more and more companies are buying these.

Anyways, I wanted to see what a proper, S515 NF would look like - the same overall layout as the S415 NF, but with the design of the new 500-Series coaches - and so, I first made the render below, and then the sketch that’s all the way up top (which does look better in real life than on the photo, my Copic markers didn’t really enjoy the Croatian heat…).

What do you think of my concept? I also posted it on my two Instagram accounts @bus.spotting.munich and @thestigsgermancousin, and people really seemed to enjoy it. Some even told me I should send that to Setra immediately… Anyways, I’m still working on a side and rear view, so stay tuned for that!
Tobi aka The Stig’s German Cousin