Ikarus Bus

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

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

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").

[edit] 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, 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%.

Ikarus provided body shells (without doors, windows, seats, engine) for Orion Bus Industries contracts to supply Toronto and Ottawa transit systems with articulated buses in late 1986-1987. 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]

From 1999, the company was 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 (1000-2000 per year) and China (10,000 per year).

In 2006, 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 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias.

In 2010 a new Ikarus V187 and other standard, and articulated models are introduced to the press and publicly tested on BKV lines.^[2] ^[3]^[4]

[edit] Models

Model	Engine	Type	Length	Notes
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
190	rear		11 m	like West German standard; 1973–1983
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
261	mid	city	11 m	Right-Hand Drive
266	rear	city/suburban	11 m
280	mid	articulated	16.5 m
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		prototype
303	rear	coach	8.7 m	only 9 prototypes built
311	front		8.5 m	1957–1972
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
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

[edit] Modern types

405 city bus, 7 m long
411 low-floor city bus, 11 m long
412 low-floor city bus, 11.9 m long
415 city bus, 11.4 m long
417 low-floor, articulated city bus, 17.6 m long, only ever 30 produced
435 articulated city bus, 17.8 m long
438 articulated bus (only 1 prototype)
480 city bus, 12 m long
481 low-floor city bus, 12 m long
489 Polaris low-floor city bus, 12 m long

EAG E91 mini city bus, 7.8 m long
EAG E92 city bus, 9 m long (only 1 prototype)
EAG E94 urban bus 12 m long
EAG E94G urban/suburban bus 18 m long (articulated, only a few manufactured)
EAG E95 interurban bus 12. m long

EAG E97 highdecker coach 12.0 m long
EAG E98 coach 12.0 m long
EAG E99 doubledecker coach 12.m

E127 (127E) low-floor suburban bus, 12.725 m long
E134 (134E) low-floor suburban bus, 13.4 m long
V134 (134V) low floor city bus, 13.4 m long
V187 (187V) low-floor, articulated city bus, 18.75 m long (pre-production)

[edit] Gallery

Ikarus 31 type bus from 1959; restored museum piece in Miskolc.
Ikarus type 260.04 in Warsaw.
A former East Berlin Ikarus 280.03 articulated city bus on display at Berlin-Lichtenberg depot.
Ikarus type 280.70 articulated bus in Katowice.
Electrical (Trolleybus) Ikarus City Bus and ZiU-9
Ikarus 412 in Taiwan.
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
An Ikarus Polaris (489) on DAF chassis in Manchester, UK
MAN SR 240 / Ikarus Bus 662.65 Coach build in 1980s^[5]
Ikarus C83.30G 2002; operating in Transmilenio Bogota, Colombia (2007).
Ikarus C83.30G 2002; operating in Transmilenio Bogota, Colombia (2006).