Ikarus Bus

Ikarus Bus
Private company
Industry Bus manufacturing
Founded 1895
Headquarters Budapest, Hungary
Key people
 Gábor Széles — Chairman
Products Buses
Website www.ikarus.hu
Ikarus 415.14B bus in Bielsko-Biała, Poland.
A restored Ikarus 31 (1959) in Miskolc.

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

History

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.

In 1955 and 1956 with the new front engine models (Ikarus 620, 630 and 31) the company's foreign sales were boosted and apart from Eastern-European countries, the People's Republic of 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 re-unified sales fell to about 10%.

Ikarus provided body shells (without doors, windows, seats, engine) for Orion Bus Industries contracts to supply two of Canada's transit systems, the Toronto and Ottawa with articulated buses in late 1986–87. The Orion Ikarus buses were put on the fast track for retirement by the TTC due to structural corrosion problems. These problems were blamed on poor spot welds made during the manufacture of the bus.[1]

Since 1999, the company had been owned by Irisbus, a French-Italian investing group. In 2006, Irisbus sold Ikarus Bus to Hungary's Műszertechnika group for the full asking price. Műszertechnika 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 Gábor Széles 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 (1,000–2,000 per year) and China (10,000 per year).

In 2010 a new Ikarus V187 and other standard and articulated models were announced to the press and publicly tested on BKV lines

As of 2010, a second bus factory is planned to be built in the United States, with new headquarters in Los Angeles. A third bus factory is also planned in Eskişehir, Turkey.

In 2014 the Hungarian city of Szeged started operating new Ikarus-Skoda trolleybuses. The buses are produced in Székesfehérvár, the engines in the Czech republic.

[2][3][4]

Models

Model Engine Type Length Notes Image
30 front
31 front 8.5 m
55 rear coach 11.4 m
60 front 9.4 m
66 rear city/suburban 11.4 m
180 mid articulated city 16.5 m extended version of the Ikarus 556
190 rear 11 m like West German standard; 1973–83
194 mid city/suburban on Volvo B10M chassis
196 mid city/suburban on Volvo B10M chassis
196.02 mid articulated 18 m on Volvo chassis
196.03 rear articulated on Scania chassis, 1984
208 rear suburban 8.5 m
210 rear coach
210 rear suburban
211 rear midi bus/coach
212 rear midi bus/coach
216 rear midi bus/coach
220 rear suburban 9.5 m no series production
230 rear coach
240 rear city/suburban
242 rear city/suburban 11 m
246 rear city/suburban
250 rear coach 12 m produced in large numbers
252 rear coach 11 m
255 rear interurban 11 m
256 rear coach 11 m
260 mid city 11 m
260T mid trolleybus 11 m only 2 produced (Budapest, Weimar)
261 mid city 11 m Right-Hand Drive
263 mid city 12 m Upgraded, 12 m version of model 260
266 rear city/suburban 11 m
280 mid articulated 16.5 m
280E articulated trolleybus
280T mid articulated trolleybus
281 mid articulated 16.5 m Right-Hand Drive
282 mid articulated 18 m
283 mid articulated 18 m
284 rear articulated 17.9 m
286 mid articulated 18.2 m 2.59 m wide for USA; see Crown-Ikarus 286
290 front airport 14 m
293 mid double articulated 22.6m prototype
303 rear coach 8.7 m only 9 prototypes built
311 front 8.5 m 1957–72
380NE rear coach 12 m only 1 prototype built
410NE rear city 11.4 m only prototypes built
440NE rear city 11 m only 1 prototype built
553 front minibus
556 mid city 10.9 m
620 front city 9.4 m
630 front interurban 9.4 m
695 mid articulated 17.9 m "PALT" apron bus

Modern types

Model Type Length Notes Image
405 city bus 7 m
411 low-floor city bus 11 m
412 low-floor city bus 11.9 m
412T trolleybus
415 city bus 11.4 m
415T trolleybus
417 low-floor articulated city bus 17.6 m only 30 ever produced
435 articulated city bus 17.8 m
438 articulated bus only 1 prototype built
480 city bus 12 m Body built on DAF SB220 chassis
481 low-floor city bus 12 m Body built on DAF SB220LF chassis
489 low-floor city bus 12 m Polaris
EAG E91 mini city bus 7.8 m
EAG E92 city bus 9 m only 1 prototype built
EAG E94 urban bus 12 m
EAG E94G articulated urban/suburban bus 18 m only a few built
EAG E95 interurban bus 12. m
EAG E97 highdecker coach 12.0 m
EAG E98 coach 12.0 m
EAG E99 double-deck coach 12.m
E127 / 127E low-floor suburban bus 12.725 m
V127 / 127V low-floor city bus 12.725 m
E134 / 134E low-floor suburban bus 13.4 m
V134 / 134V low floor city bus 13.4 m
V187 / 187V low-floor articulated city bus 18.75 m pre-production

See also

References

  1. ↑ The Orion Ikarus Articulateds
  2. ↑ Vezess.hu article
  3. ↑ Vilaggazdasag.hu article
  4. ↑ TotalCar.hu article
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