Thomas '1916–pr.

Founded in 1916, Thomas Built Buses is a leading manufacturer of school buses in North America. The company was originally named the Perley A. Thomas Car Works, after its founder, and has had its present name since 1972. The word "car" in the original name referred not to automobiles, but to streetcars. This mode of transport operated in every major American city before gradually fading from the scene in the 1930s, because of the Great Depression and the increasing prevalence of individual transport. This did not deter Perley A. Thomas, and in 1936 he started a changeover to a mode of transport less sensitive to economic cycles, which still dominates the American bus market today: school buses. Since the first Thomas Built bus rolled off the assembly line, the company has been committed to delivering the smartest and most innovative buses in North America. In 1998, the company was acquired by Freightliner LLC, a DaimlerChrysler Company. Perley A. Thomas, the company’s founder, was inducted into the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in 2005. Thomas Built Buses, Inc., headquartered in High Point, N.C., is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer in North America and a leading manufacturer of class 4-8 vehicles.