# Ikarbus

Ikarbus a.d. (full legal name: Ikarbus – Fabrika autobusa i specijalnih vozila a.d.) is a Serbian bus manufacturer based in Zemun, Belgrade.
It was originally established as an aircraft manufacturer in 1923, under the name Ikarus. In 1954, it commenced bus production and since 1960 it completely shifted towards it. In 1992, it changed its name to Ikarbus. Since 2019, it is majority owned by the Chinese "Green Stone Investment Co.".

## History

On 13 October 1923, the company was established under name "Ikarus – the first Serbian airplane, car and engine industry Kovačević and Co", with headquarters in Novi Sad. The founders were Dimitrije Konjović, brothers Dušan and Milivoj Kovačević, Đoka Radulović and Josif Mikl. On 20 November 1923, "Ikarus" started business officially after the registration before the Novi Sad District Court. In the beginning, the company manufactured a number of foreign designs under licence, such as the French Potez 25, Czechoslovakian Avia BH-33 and English Hawker Fury; Bristol Blenheim as well as the locally designed Ikarus ŠM, Ikarus IO, SIM-VIII, Ikarus IK-2 and Ikarus Orkan.
On 3 March 1924, the first school type airplane "Brandenburg" was manufactured. In 1927, the Yugoslavian Air Command decided that "Ikarus" should start the production of military planes; the factory for the production of military planes was built in Zemun. On 20 June 1927, "Ikarus" together with Military and Navy Ministry concluded an agreement to build a new factory of airplane engines in Rakovica. In 1928, the Sports Club "Ikarus" was established, thus "Ikarus" being the first company to build gliders in the country. By December 1932, the company relocated its headquarters from Novi Sad to Zemun. In April 1935, the first model of war airplane of domestic design was completed; a single-seat glider "IK-1", designed by engineers Ljubomir Ilić and Kosta Sivčev. In January 1936, the Yugoslav Air Command and "Ikarus" signed an agreement for the manufacturing of British "Hawker Fury" fighter plane, of all-metal construction. By the spring of 1938, the Yugoslav Air Command and the company concluded an agreement on the supply of twin-engine bombers "Blenheim", under the British license. In 1938, the Administration Building of "Ikarus" in Zemun was built.
With the start of the World War II (WWII) in Yugoslavia, the Nazi Germany occupation authorities confiscated the company on 17 April 1941. On 17 and 25 April 1944, the factory was heavily damaged in the Allied air-strikes. By early November 1944, the factory restarted operations.
On 12 August 1945, the first emergency Assembly of "Ikarus" shareholders in the socialist Yugoslavia was held in. On 27 March 1946, "Ikarus" was nationalized by the decision of the District Court of Zemun. Until the end of 1946, the subsequent decisions in form of property nationalization were made. On 22 October 1946, the first plane "Aero-2B" flew for the first time, the first prototype made by the air industry in socialist Yugoslavia. On 23 January 1948, the Government of Yugoslavia made a decision to establish the State Enterprise "Ikarus". Also, the Sports Club "Naša krila" was established.
In 1950, a single-seat fighter plane S-49 was built by engineers Ilić, Sivčev, Zrnić and Popović. In the same year, "Ikarus" manufactured the first gliders in the socialist Yugoslavia; a single-seat glider "Hawk 1" was awarded the third prize at the International Championship in Sweden. By the end of October 1952, the first Yugoslav jet plane "451 M" took off. In 1954, "Kosava" twin-seat glider received the first prize at the International Championship in England.
From 1954 onward, Ikarus also commenced bus production, originally of Sauer and MAN designs under licence, but eventually the company's own designs.
In 1957, the airplane Ikarus S-451MM set the world speed record flying at 750.34 km/hour. In 1960, the Ikarus S-451M, ultra light jet plane set the world speed record, flying at 500.2 km/hour. On 14 November 1961, by the official act of the Administration for Military Industry Affairs, "Ikarus" ceased to be a military company. Most of the personal and equipment from the aircraft section of "Ikarus" had been relocated during the previous decade to a new aircraft factory SOKO, located in Mostar, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina.

### 1992–2019

In 1992, the company was privatized, and the following year changed its name to "Ikarbus", due to name usage conflicts with the Hungarian bus manufacturer with the same name.
* Old Ikarus IK-4 bus in Bucharest
* Ikarus IK-160 articulated bus in Skopje
* Ikarbus buses delivery in Belgrade
During the 1990s Yugoslav Wars and international sanctions imposed on FR Yugoslavia, the company's production stagnated. As there was no political will to adjust a state-owned company to a transition, that trend continued during the 2000s and 2010s, causing Ikarbus to become indebted and work in limited capacity.

### 2019–present: Green Stone Investment Co. ownership

In March 2019, the Chinese "Zhuhai Yinlong New Energy" company began the process of acquiring a majority stake in company's ownership structure. Since then, the new majority owner of the company is officially the Chinese "Green Stone Investment Co.". However, there are concerns for the fate of Ikarbus, as production or reactivation of the facility in Zemun is still uncertain.

## Products

Every vehicle made by Ikarbus has a name starting with 'IK', followed by a hyphen and then the vehicle's code: IK-1xxs are solo city buses, IK-2xxs are articulated city buses and IK-3xxs and IK-4xxs are coaches. Earlier IK 160(P)/161/166 models are also articulated buses. The letter N disambiguates integral models from non-integral ones.
The last produced models under Ikarbus brand were:
* IK-103 solo, MAN or Mercedes engine
* IK-103 CNG (meets EURO-5 standards)
* IK-107 minibus, Cummins engine
* IK-112M, MAN NL 323 chassis
* IK-112N solo low floor, MAN engine
* IK-112LE, Mercedes-Benz OC 500 LE chassis
* IK-206 articulated, vertical MAN engine
* IK-218N articulated low floor, MAN engine
* IK-218M articulated low floor, MAN NG 363 chassis
* IK-308, midibus coach
* IK-312, regional coach
* IK-412, long-distance coach
* IK-415, three-axle coach

### Historical
#### Aircraft

In 1927 an aeronautical section of the factory was found in Zemun where numerous planes were designed and manufactured, as well as under license. The factory included its own airfield. After the end of the World War II, in 1946, another two aeronautical companies, Zmaj and Rogožarski joined Ikarus as a wholly nationalised state aircraft industry. The Ikarus factory had manufactured in its workshops 475 aircraft up until 1962, when it stopped working for the aviation industry.
| Model name | First flight | Number built | Type |
| Ikarus 25 | | 220 | License built single piston engine biplane reconnaissance airplane |
| Ikarus 211 [sr] | 1947 | 1 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 212 [sr] | 1948 | | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 213 [sr] | 1948 | 1 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 214 | 1949 | 22 | Twin piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 215 | 1949 | 1 | Twin piston engine monoplane bomber |
| Ikarus 231 | 1948 | 2 | Single piston engine monoplane liaison airplane |
| Ikarus 232 Pionir | | 1 | Twin piston engine monoplane experimental airplane |
| Ikarus 251 | 1946 | 1 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 252 [sr] | 1946 | 1 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 451 | 1953 | 2 | Twin piston engine monoplane experimental airplane |
| Ikarus 452 | 1953 | 2 | Twin jet engine monoplane experimental airplane |
| Ikarus 453MW [sr] | 1952 | 1 | Experimental glider |
| Ikarus 522 | 1955 | 2 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus 920 [sr] | 1949 | 1 | Transport glider |
| Ikarus Aero 2 | 1940 | 248 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus BH-33E | | 22 | License built single piston engine biplane fighter |
| Ikarus Blenheim | | 16 | License built twin piston engine monoplane bomber |
| Ikarus Fury | | 24 | License built single piston engine biplane fighter |
| Ikarus IK-1 | 1935 | 1 | Single piston engine monoplane fighter |
| Ikarus IK-2 | 1934 | 12 | Single piston engine monoplane fighter |
| Ikarus IM [sr] | 1926 | 4 | Single piston engine biplane flying boat reconnaissance airplane |
| Ikarus IO | 1926 | 38 | Single piston engine biplane flying boat reconnaissance airplane |
| Ikarus J-451MM | | 1 | Twin jet engine monoplane experimental airplane |
| Ikarus Kobac [sr] | 1953 | 1 | Training glider |
| Ikarus Košava | 1953 | 2 | Glider |
| Ikarus Kurir | 1955 | ~145 | Single piston engine monoplane liaison airplane |
| Ikarus Meteor | 1955 | ~2 | Glider |
| Ikarus MM-2 | 1940 | 1 | Single piston engine monoplane trainer |
| Ikarus Orao [sr] | 1949 | | Glider |
| Ikarus Orkan | 1940 | 1 | Twin piston engine monoplane light bomber |
| Ikarus S-49 | 1949 | 158 | Single piston engine monoplane fighter |
| Ikarus S-451 | | 1 | Twin piston engine monoplane experimental airplane |
| Ikarus S-451M | 1952 | | Twin jet engine monoplane experimental airplane |
| Ikarus S-451MM | | 1 | Twin jet engine monoplane attack airplane |
| Ikarus SB-1 | | 22 | License built single piston engine biplane trainer |
| Ikarus ŠB-1 | | 24 | License built single piston engine biplane trainer |
| Ikarus SIM-VIII | | 2 | Single piston engine monoplane touring airplane |
| Ikarus Sivi Soko [sr] | 1928 | 1 | Single piston engine biplane trainer |
| Ikarus SM | 1924 | 42 | Single piston engine biplane flying boat trainer |
| Ikarus T-451MM | | 1 | Twin jet engine monoplane trainer |

#### Buses

The historical models under Ikarus brand are:
* IK-4 (solo bus based on Leyland chassis, produced in the early 1970s)
* IK-5A / IK-5B (solo and articulated based on MAN Metrobus (de) license, produced in 1972-1981)
* IK-61 (solo, Raba D2156 engine, manual transmission) produced in the 1970s
* IK-83 (solo, FAP chassis, FAMOS 2 F-207 engine, manual transmission) produced in the 1970s
* IK-102 (solo, MAN D2866 engine, automatic VOITH transmission) produced until 1996
* IK-105 / IK-108 / IK-110B / IK-115 (solo, Raba D2156 engine, manual transmission) produced until 1988
* IK-111B (solo, MAN D2866 engine, manual transmission) produced until 1996
* IK-160B / IK-180 (articulated, Raba D2156 engine, manual transmission) produced until 1988
* IK-160P (articulated, SW680 engine ) produced for the Polish market until 1989
* IK-161B (articulated, MAN D2866 engine, manual transmission) produced until 1996
* IK-161R (articulated, Raba D2156 engine, manual transmission) produced until 1996
* IK-166 (articulated, MAN D2866 engine, automatic VOITH transmission) produced until 1996
The historical models under Ikarbus brand are:
* IK-101 (solo, MAN engine)
* IK-102 (solo, RABA engine)
* IK-201 (articulated, horizontal MAN engine)
* IK-202 (articulated, horizontal RABA engine)
* IK-203 (articulated, horizontal Mercedes engine)