Ikarus 435

History

Early history (1895–1932)

The company's direct predecessor was established in Budapest in 1895, when Imre Uhry opened his Blacksmith Workshop. The little company's main profile was to repair carts and horseshoes. However, Uhry constantly upgraded his workshop from the stable income he gained, and within a few years, the workshop started to produce its first carriages, drays and chariots. After a number of expansions, Uhry bought a new plant in 1913, and by the outbreak of World War I, they started to focus on building and repairing truck superstructures. When the war finally ended in 1918, the company was one of the most significant manufacturers. One reason is because the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and Uhry's company was one of the few not finding itself on the outer side of the new borders. The other is because the company was taking a significant part in the war production.

In the early 1920s, another enlargement of the company was due to happen, which eventually resulted in a new name: Uhry Imre Car-body and Trailer Factory (Uhry Imre Karosszéria és Pótkocsigyár). Prior to the 1930s, the company was primarily producing various and unique superstructures on foreign companies' chassis, like Ford, Mercedes-Benz, FIAT, Büssing or Gräf & Stift. These included trucks, buses and even some passenger cars. The Uhry company was doing better as time went by. In 1929, the 1,000th truck superstructure was produced. Although, at this time, the company did not have any export products, from time to time, some models caught international spotlight. For example, in 1934, the company's luxury autobus built on a Gräf & Stift chassis was presented on the French Concours d'Élégance car beauty contest.

The company's three most important customers were the Hungarian State companies Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), the Hungarian State Railways Auto Transportation Company (MAVART) and one of the predecessors of Budapest Transportation Company (BSzKRt). These companies were constantly ordering from Uhry's factory, up until the Great Depression hit Hungary in 1930. The crisis suddenly cut most of the orders, production was almost stopped. The situation forced Uhry to sell the vehicles below their real value and to take loans. Eventually, by 1932, the situation led to the bankruptcy of Uhry Imre Car body and Trailer Factory.

From reorganisation to the Communist Era (1933–1948)

In 1933, the children of Imre Uhry established a new company on the ruins of the old, which was called Uhri Siblings Car-body and Vehicle Factory (Uhri Testvérek Autókarosszéria és Járműgyár). The children were using their family name with the letter "i" instead of "y". The new company's first three years went by steadily, without any major success, but in 1936, the BSzKRt, the company then responsible for Budapest's public transportation, ordered 50 diesel buses on MÁVAG–Mercedes chassis. These vehicles were still produced with wooden body, but the factory did hire new engineers, who started to work on a metal body variant, which was to be mass-produced.

During this period of the company, it was not customary to actually name their products. When we are referring to each type, it usually has to be done by the chassis it was built on and the year of production.

The first metal-body autobus in Hungary was the Uhri Siblings' MÁVAG N26/36, which was followed by a successor with some modifications every year. Four models were mass-produced, primarily for Budapest: the standard MÁVAG N26/39 and N26/40, as well as the "hill" version N2h/39 and N2h/40. These four were nicknamed Catfish due to their unique front decoration. A total number of 184 units were produced of them.

In 1942, the company, which employed almost a thousand people, started to produce aircraft. The site on Margit Street, founded at that time, was one of the bastions of domestic vehicle production until the turn of the Millennium.

In 1948, like many other enterprises in the newly-established Second Hungarian Republic at the time, the company was nationalised and thus became property of the state, which was followed by the Uhri-family's departure from Hungary (who left out of fear from the newly-formed government backed by the Soviet Union).

Golden age – the Communist era (1948–1989)

In 1948, the old customer, the BSzKRt ordered a new line of buses for its fleet and for this request the — now state-owned — company developed a brand new model, the 'Tr 5. It was 9.5 metres in length and was built on a MÁVAG LO 5000 type chassis.

In 1949, new changes were implemented by the communist government. The Uhri Siblings Car-body and Vehicle Factory was merged with:

the Airplane Factory (Repülőgépgyár Rt.)

the Ikarus Machine- and Metal Products Company (Ikarus Gép- és Fémáru Rt.)

Hence the Ikarus Body- and Vehicle Factory (Ikarus Karosszéria- és Járműgyár) was created on 8 February.

However, the company's products still did not bear the name Ikarus until 1951, although the winged logo started to appear even on the Tr 5 models, built after 1949, and the three other models, not using the company name.

As a result of the war, there was a shortage of chassis in Hungary, but at the same time, there was a growing need for buses, as most of them were destroyed or severely damaged during the Siege of Budapest. The engineers were forced by the circumstances to develop a bus model without chassis. The result was the model Tr 3,5 with a unibody construction in 1948, which was the first in the world of its type. Some sources suggest the German Setra S8 as the first with such unibody construction, but that model was only started to be built in 1950. The small Tr 3,5 weighted only 3,7 tonnes – hence the name – and was 7.73 metres in length. The engine was produced by Rába, but at the time, the company could only produce some pre-war models that were used for their own — at this point obsolete — bus model, the Special.

During this short period, Ikarus had ambitious plans, as they designed two different bus models exclusively for export goals. One of these was the A19, which was designed with Southern-American standards in mind. It was built on a 10.5 metres long chassis, and every single passenger seat was rendered next to a window. The model was also full of decorations. Despite all the attempts, only two prototypes of the model were built, and both of them remained in Hungary.

The fall of Ikarus (1989–2003)

With the fall of the Communist Bloc, Ikarus's existence approached a crisis as well. Many of the once very close customers, including Russia, suddenly turned away from the Hungarian company, which resulted in a looming disaster. The other major problem was that the remaining customers still didn't want to even hear about "newer" models of the 300- and 400-series. The third issue was that in 1990, the Soviet Union was on the brink of bankruptcy; the Hungarian government's response to this was an immediate halt on exports to the USSR. This resulted in over 1000 already produced Ikarus 200-series buses getting stranded in the factory's yard. That event was a major loss for the company. Ikarus also suffered a blow when Germany withdrew all its orders for the year 1990. These events forced Ikarus to cut off relationships with many of its suppliers and start producing these parts in its own factories. Although being a logical step towards protecting the company, it resulted in the fate of many other Hungarian businesses, including Csepel.

In spite of the numerous setbacks, Ikarus managed to stay above water, partially thanks to some newly conquered markets such as the United Kingdom. At the very end of the 1980s, Ikarus managed to export some of the 300-series models to the island, which built a basis for further partnership. From 1990 to 2001, the company developed and exported three models exclusively for the UK, the last of which was designed in 2000, named the Ikarus 489 Polaris and was a very up-to-date, modern vehicle.

Ikarus continued developing new models up until it went out of business. In 1993, the company built its first fully low-floored model, the Ikarus 411. With this vehicle, Ikarus was among the first companies to announce such a model. The first fully low-floored bus was the Van Hool A300 in 1991. Nonetheless, only a limited number of the model was produced, mainly because the bus was only 11 metres long, which, at the time, was not considered very practical. The company realised the issue and developed the successor of the model, the Ikarus 412, which was 12 metres long. On the other hand, Ikarus was the company that produced the first fully low-floored articulated bus in the world. It was Ikarus 417, which, due to its modern features, was very popular at first, and the German city of Wuppertal immediately ordered 17 units. The success of the model did not last long, though, because it had some recurring mechanical issues. As a result, only 32 units were sold over the next 7 years.

In 1998, a refurbished version of the old 200-series was developed, called the Classic-series. The old models received redesigned fronts/backs and new, more efficient Rába D10 or Detroit Diesel S50 engines. The Classic-series proved to be a success, since the Eastern and Hungarian customers were glad to buy the newer versions of the familiar models, while Ikarus also gained somewhat more income on producing them.

From 2004

In 2006, the entrepreneur-owned Magyar Busz Kft. was founded and bought the Székesfehérvár site and the production rights from Irisbus. Between 2010 and 2015, in cooperation with ARC (Auto Rad Control) Kft. from Szigetszentmiklós, Gábor Széles revived Ikarus bus production and acquired the name Ikarus as a trademark for the new buses. IKARUS Járműtechnika Kft. and the other companies of the IKARUS group owned by Gábor Széles (IKARUS GLOBÁL Zrt., IKARUS ELECTRIC MOTORCARS Zrt.) are divisions of Műszertechnika-Holding Zrt. Also in 2006, Ikarus Egyedi Kft. was founded, and this company also registered the brand name on June 30, 2016. Not long after, a lawsuit to establish a trademark infringement and its legal consequences was started.

In 2017-2018, several trademark application applications were submitted for the name Ikarus. On September 11 and 28, 2017, CSM Holding Kft. from Rábacsécsény (land, air or water transport means; bus; trolleybus, then military transport vehicles; body production), On the 27th, Attila Géza Bradács, from Kehidakustány (travel organization; excursion and tour organization), and on November 13, Műszertechnika Holding Zrt. (transport and transport equipment, including motor vehicles, automobiles, dump trucks, trucks, tractors, bodies and their parts and accessories), which in 2018 registered on December 6. Back in 2018 Gábor Széles's company filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Ikarus Autóbusz Gyártó Egyedi Kft., as it is not the legal successor of the bus factory, and a legal dispute arose between them regarding ownership of the name.

In the summer of 2018, the main owner Ikarus Egyedi Kft. (formerly MABI-Bus), which also owns Evopro Holding, initiated bankruptcy proceedings against it, from which the minority owners (Lanta Kft. and Albatric Kft., like Ikarus Egyedi Kft.) also distanced themselves, and in October it started liquidation of the company group, it did not fulfill its orders, there was also a problem with the previous prototypes (hybrid, electric, gas and trolley-driven composite type C Modulók).

The company was reorganized in 2018, and before 2021 the company produced 170 diesel buses.

The Ikarus 120e was presented at the Greentech 2021 sustainability trade show, the first purely electric bus designed and manufactured in Hungary with European type approval. Two important elements of the model come from China: the battery (manufactured by CATL) and the drive system (the work of the large corporation CRRC). However, the bus is entirely Hungarian in design: both the exterior and interior design are the work of Hungarian specialists, the assembly of the body and the installation of the drive system also take place in Székesfehérvár, and the mechanical engineering and electronics are also Hungarian. It was made in both a solo and an articulated version. The factory in Székesfehérvár employs many old professionals, some of whom even worked at the old Ikarus. The engineers have also developed a charging system integrated with an energy storage, which can be charged either from a solar panel or a wind farm, but also from the electrical network, thus ensuring that vehicles can be charged with high performance even with a relatively lower power network. In addition to the domestic market, the buses were also sold abroad.

Subsidiaries

Ikarus EAG (1967/1989–2007)

This part of Ikarus' history starts in 1967, when the company decided to establish a smaller plant, where the unique or small numbered models could be developed and produced. It became the Ikarus Egyedi Gyáregység (Ikarus Unique Plant). Many models for the Scandinavian countries were constructed here.

In 1989, the company, due to the success of the plant, decided to create it as a subsidiary company, which resulted in a new name: Ikarus Egyedi Autóbuszgyár, or Ikarus EAG (Ikarus Unique Autobus Factory). The EAG started to develop its own, higher-quality coaches and buses on chassis called the E-series and became a considerable exporter primarily to the Scandinavian and Western markets.

Although being successful and receiving stable income, in 2007 Irisbus eventually chose to close down Ikarus EAG as well.

American-Ikarus (1980/1989–1993)

During the 1980s, Ikarus successfully exported c. 500 of the Ikarus 286 to the US (as the Crown-Ikarus 286) and Canada (as the Orion-Ikarus 286). Later on Ikarus created a subsidiary, the American Ikarus in order to ensure production on the continent. Eventually and partly because of the mother company's bad situation, in 1993 American Ikarus broke away from Ikarus and took the name North American Bus Industries, or NABI. The new company later managed to become one of the most prominent American bus manufacturers.

NABI continued production of transit buses, largely based on the Ikarus 416 and 436 models, until 2013, when New Flyer Industries bought NABI and eventually closed it in 2015.

Bus and trolleybus models

Current models (including the concept models)

Ikarus 250

Ikarus 260

Ikarus 280

Ikarus 415T

Ikarus 415

Ikarus 120e

Ikarus 180e (coming soon)