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In 1942, Joseph-Armand Bombardier founded a company in Valcourt, in Québec's Eastern Townships which manufactured tracked vehicles capable of transporting passengers on snow-covered terrain. Its first commercial vehicle, the B-12, was used to haul wood, carry mail and transport students in rural areas.

A few years later, the adoption by the Québec Government of a law calling for plowing snow off the roads sent the inventor back to his drawing boards to create a series of industrial vehicles. Although his products were very successful, Joseph-Armand Bombardier was always dreaming of a small personal snow-vehicle. Finally, in 1959, mass-production began of what today is considered the true forerunner of the Ski-Doo snowmobile.

Between 1959 and 1973, one million Ski-Doo snowmobiles came out of the assembly lines. But in 1973, the energy crisis precipitated a decline in the snowmobile market, thus forcing Bombardier to look for another field of activities where it could redeploy its qualified workforce. When the City of Montréal announced an expansion program for its subway system in early 1974, Bombardier decided to become a rolling stock manufacturer. Over the next few years, Bombardier set out to conquer the North American rail transit equipment market, which offered excellent growth prospects. In 1981, a contract for 825 subway cars awarded by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of New York proved to be a decisive breakthrough. Today, passengers travel in Bombardier rolling stock in a multitude of large cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, as well as Boston, Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, Ankara, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. Bombardier Transportation also manufactures a full range of suburban and intercity vehicles, complete rail transit systems and freight cars. In addition, it provides operations and maintenance services.

In 1986, Bombardier seized the opportunity to enter yet another promising sector when it bought the leading Canadian aircraft manufacturer, Canadair, which was being privatized by the Canadian Government. With the subsequent acquisition of Learjet in the United States, Short Brothers in Northern Ireland and Canada's de Havilland, Bombardier has become the third largest civil aircraft manufacturer worldwide. It is currently the sole aircraft manufacturer with production facilities on two continents. When it launched the 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet in 1991, Bombardier Aerospace reinvented the concept of regional aircraft transportation. It now offers complete families of turboprop and regional jet aircraft, and has the industry's widest range of business jets, offered both in full and fractional ownership. Its Canadair 415 amphibious aircraft is the only purpose-built firefighting aircraft, which can be adapted to a variety of specialized maritime missions.

Bombardier has always been very active in the field of recreational products ever since it started manufacturing snowmobiles. While it has produced more than two million of them, it has added other vehicles to its line of recreational products. Pursuing Joseph-Armand Bombardier's creative mind, it launched the Sea-Doo personal watercraft in 1988, then a line of jet-powered boats, both of which are powered by Bombardier-Rotax engines. In the recent years, a successful entry into the all-terrain vehicle market extended the reach of Bombardier Recreational Products.

Through the years, Bombardier has become a diversified global corporation, currently leading the business jet and regional aircraft markets worldwide as well as being the global leader in passenger railcar manufacturing. It is also recognized as the benchmark for the introduction of innovative recreational products. It has a total workforce of 56,000 employees spread in 12 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. Bombardier's revenues for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2000 totaled 13.6 billion $CAN, of which more than 90% were generated in markets outside Canada.