Ikarus Bus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ikarus Bus
Type	Private company
Founded	1895
Headquarters	Budapest, Hungary
Key people	Gábor Széles — Chairman
Industry	Manufacturing
Products	Buses
Revenue	Unknown
Employees	Unknown

Ikarus is a bus manufacturer based in Budapest, Hungary. It was established in 1895 as Uhri Imre Kovács- és Kocsigyártó Üzeme (roughly: Uhri Imre's Blacksmith Workshop and Carriage Factory).

By 1913, the company focused mainly on constructing cars and due to increased sales during World War I it made great profits. In 1927, Ikarus had won an international tender and it was this year that large scale production could begin by delivering 60 shuttle buses. Following the Wall Street Crash the company became bankrupt as it did not receive any significant orders and it had to be closed down. In 1935 the company had resumed production and was fully functioning during World War II. On 23 February 1949, Ikarus was officially established when it merged with airplane manufacturer Ikarus Gép és Fémgyár Rt.

Ikarus 31 bus

In 1955 and 1956 with the new models (Ikarus 620, 630 and 31) the company's foreign sales were boosted and apart from Eastern-European countries, China, Burma and Egypt started using them in several of their cities. By 1962, Ikarus delivered 8,000 buses abroad and in 1970 it won second place at an expo in Monaco showing its prominence in Europe. In 1971, over 100,000 buses were manufactured and sales increased year-by-year. By 1973, Ikarus became the world's fourth largest manufacturer, but lacking raw materials, orders were not delivered in time on several occasions. Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic was one of the most important trading partners of Ikarus, but when Germany was reunited sales fell to about 10%.

From 1999, the company was owned by Irisbus, a French-Italian investing group. In 2006, Irisbus sold bus maker Ikarusbus to Hungary's Müszertechnika group for the full asking price. Müszertechnika signed a contract back in December to acquire 100% of the company, which was established back in 1999 as a 75:25 joint venture between Renault-Iveco and Hungarian Industrialist Mr. Gabor Szeles for Ikarus. In 2002, Ikarus placed the Natural Gas (CNG) 18 meter articulated bus in Colombia, which is currently in operation in Transmilenio Rapid Bus Mass Transit System in the Capital City of Bogota. The company has come out in 2007 with a new low-floor model which they plan to produce in Hungary (200-400 per year), Russia (1000-2000 per year) and China (10,000 per year).

In 2006, Mr. Gary Urteaga, a business entrepreneur from Peru, initiated a project with Ikarus to penetrate the Latin American Market. The Project involves the supply of Natural Gas (CNG) Buses of 8 meters, 12 meters and articulated 18 meters together with the investment in Bus Assembly Plants for the Latin American region. Offers have been made to bidders of the Metropolitano Rapid Bus Transit System of the City of Lima in Peru which is to awarded in 2007 and implemented in 2008-2009. Also, the Government of Venezuela has initiated dialogue with Ikarus derived from the strong interest in the market for Natural Gas Buses shown by President Hugo Chavez Frias.

1 Products
2 Gallery
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Products

208 suburban bus, 8.5 meters
210, 230 coach
211, 212, 216 bus
220 suburban bus, 9.4 meters, no series production
240, 246 city/suburban bus
242 city/suburban bus
250 coach, 12 meters, produced in large numbers
252 coach, 11 meters
260 standard citybus
280, 282, 283, 284, 286 articulated buses
290 airport bus
293 double articulated bus, prototype
260T standard trolleybus
280T articulated trolleybus

405 city bus, 7 meters
411 low-floor city bus, 11 meters
412 low-floor city bus, 11.9 meters
415 city bus, 11.4 meters
417 low-floor, articulated city bus, 17.6 meters, only ever 30 produced
435 articulated city bus, 17.8 meters
438 articulated bus (only 2 prototypes)
480 city bus, 12 meters
481 city bus, 12 meters
489 Polaris low-floor city bus, 12 meters

EAG E91 mini city bus, 7.8 meters
EAG E92 city bus, 9 meters
EAG E94 city bus
EAG E95 coach

[edit] Gallery

Ikarus C83.30G 2002; operating in Transmilenio Bogota, Colombia (2007).	Ikarus C83.30G 2002; operating in Transmilenio Bogota, Colombia (2006).	Ikarus 31 type bus from 1959; restored museum piece in Miskolc.	Ikarus type 280.70E articulated bus in Katowice.
Ikarus type 260.04 in Warsaw.	A former East Berlin Ikarus 280 articulated city bus on display at Berlin-Lichtenberg depot.	Electrical (Trolleybus) Ikarus City Bus (on the left)	An Ikarus Polaris (489) on DAF chassis in Manchester, UK
An Ikarus Citibus (480) on DAF chassis in Rock Ferry, Wirral, UK	An Ikarus 481 on DAF chassis in Bolton, UK	An Ikarus Polaris (489) on DAF chassis in Manchester, UK