Switzerland has got no automobile industry, but buses, commercial vehicles and handmade sportscars have been made. Some of these vehicles have been modelled by foreign model car manufacturers: Mercury from Italy and later Vitesse from Portugal and DJH from England produced Saurer buses and trucks in 1/50th scale, Roskopf from Germany manufactured Saurer trucks and a classic FBW bus in 1/87th scale, Dinky Toys, Matchbox, Pilen and more recently Neo, Autocult, and other manufacturers made models of the Monteverdi sports and luxury cars, Minichamps and other manufacturers modelled several racing cars of the Swiss Sauber team, and there are also some handbuilt models of Swiss cars (e.g., concept cars by Sbarro) and commercial vehicles. In 1987 Migros, a Swiss chain of department stores, introduced a model of a solar vehicle made by a no-name producer in Hong Kong. The original car was developped with the financial aid of Migros. Several foreign producers have released models in special Swiss liveries. Swiss model car manufacturers often make or made handbuilt models (Beny Box, Brändli, Emmy Models, Gcam, Herzog, Ma Collection, Me-Mod, MOFS Modellbau, MZZ, PE43-Modelle, SMM, Swiss-Mini-43, Zaugg) or let produce abroad (Rextoys, Bevi; more recently DNA Collectibles and Dimini). A series of handbuilt resin models of classic Swiss trucks (Saurer, Berna) in 1/50th scale was released by Tek-Hoby, a company specialized in importing model cars to Switzerland. In 2002, Tek-Hoby also introduced re-editions of the Saurer models formerly made by Vitesse, and several newly-developed diecast and resin models were later added to this range. Another Swiss distributor, Arwico, started producing models of Swiss commercial vehicles in various scales in 2009. A Saurer bus in 1/24th scale was introduced by Alpenwagen.ch in 2006, and All Swiss Models from Camorino in the Canton of Ticino followed in 2011 by releasing 1/87th scale Saurer trucks based on the old Roskopf models. Already in 1996, the Swiss model train manufacturer HAG had diversified into diecast model cars with a 1/43rd scale Ferrari 288 GTO. In former times, tinplate toy cars were also made Switzerland, e.g. by Gysin & Heinimann in Eptingen, who produced copies of Schuco models under the brand name of Jibby between 1945 and 1953.
Switzerland