The Swiss company Berna in Olten was founded in 1902 by Joseph Wyss. Initially, it produced passenger cars, such as the Berna Vis-a-vis Ideal and Unicum, designed by the founder. Soon, the company’s product range also included trucks and trailers. In 1929, after several years of ownership changes, financial difficulties, and shifting to the production of various products, Berna became the property of the leading manufacturer of trucks, buses, and engines in Switzerland – Adolph Saurer AG of Arborn. As a result, the Olten plant began producing Saurer vehicles while retaining the Berna name. These included the Berna 2, Berna 275/10, Berna 2US, buses, and, from 1940, trolleybuses. In 1964, the Berna 2VM, a 4×4 off-road vehicle on display at the museum, entered production. It had been developed in the late 1950s at the parent plant as the Saurer 2DM. A total of 4,800 identical trucks were produced at both factories (1,600 at Berna and 3,200 at Arborn). They were introduced to the Swiss Army in 1964 in several versions. The most numerous were flatbed trucks designed to carry 30 soldiers or nearly 5 tons of cargo, also used for towing field and anti-aircraft guns and trailers carrying specialized equipment. Dump trucks and tankers were also produced, as well as trucks equipped with a snow plow. Production ended in 1976, and the final withdrawal from military service occurred in 2009.
Berna 2VM Technical Specifications:
Cabin capacity: 3 (driver and 2 passengers)
Length: 7.37 m
Wheelbase: 4.2 m
Width: 2.3 m
Height: 3.2 m
Unladen weight: 7100 kg
Payload: 4900 kg (or 30 soldiers)
Maximum speed: 75 km/h
Drive: six-cylinder Berna T3 diesel engine
Displacement: 8.1 l
Power: 135 HP
