Ikarbus a.d. (full legal name: ''Ikarbus – Fabrika autobusa i specijalnih vozila a.d.'') is a Serbian bus manufacturer based in

Zemun Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

. 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 Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

. The founders were

Dimitrije Konjović Dimitrije Konjović (German: Demeter Konjovics; 31 December 1888 – 5 January 1982) was a Serbian naval officer, aviator and entrepreneur of the Austro-Hungarian Marine Air Force and later Yugoslav Air Force. In 1923 he founded the Ikarus Aircra ...

, 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 Potez 25 (also written as Potez XXV) was a French twin-seat, single-engine sesquiplane designed during the 1920s. A light multi-purpose Strike fighter, fighter-bomber, it was designed as a line aircraft and used in a variety of roles, including F ...

, Czechoslovakian Avia BH-33 and English

Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service faster than in level flight. It was the fighter counterpart to the Hawke ...

;

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

as well as the locally designed

Ikarus ŠM The Ikarus ŠM (Serbian Cyrillic: Икарус ШМ), ŠM (for ''Školski Mornarički'', School Navy) was the first design of Eng. Josip Mikl for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav company Ikarbus, Ikarus, it was a Tandem, side-by-side two-seat ...

Ikarus IO The Ikarus IO (Serbian Cyrillic:Икарус ИО – Извиђач Обални) was a biplane flying boat produced in Yugoslavia in the late 1920s. It was a conventional flying boat design for its day, featuring a large single-bay wing cellule, ...

, SIM-VIII,

Ikarus IK-2 The Ikarus IK-2 was a 1930s high-wing, single-seat, monoplane fighter aircraft of Yugoslav design built for the Royal Yugoslav Army Air Force. The IK-2 was designed by French-trained engineers Kosta Sivčev and Ljubomir Ilić, who saw the des ...

and

Ikarus Orkan The Ikarus Orkan (Serbian Cyrillic: Икарус Оркан) was a three-seat twin-engine monoplane designed as a light bomber/reconnaissance aircraft in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia before World War II. It was designed and built at the Ikarus facto ...

. 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

. 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 World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

(WWII) in Yugoslavia, the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

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 The Sauer ( German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer f ...

and

MAN A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

designs under licence, but eventually the company's own designs. In 1957, the airplane

Ikarus S-451MM Icarus is a character in Greek mythology. Icarus or Ikarus may also refer to: People * Roger Squires (1932–2023), crossword compiler who has used the pseudonym Icarus * Icarus (wrestler) (born 1982), wrestler with the Chikara organization Pl ...

set the world speed record flying at 750.34 km/hour. In 1960, the

Ikarus S-451M Icarus is a character in Greek mythology. Icarus or Ikarus may also refer to: People * Roger Squires (1932–2023), crossword compiler who has used the pseudonym Icarus * Icarus (wrestler) (born 1982), wrestler with the Chikara organization Pl ...

, 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 Soko ( sh-Cyrl, Соко) was a Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav aircraft manufacturer based in Mostar, Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. The company was responsible for the production of ...

, located in

Mostar Mostar () is a city and the administrative centre of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is situated on the Neretva Riv ...

SR Bosnia and Herzegovina The Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Bosna i Hercegovina, Социјалистичка Pепублика Босна и Херцеговина), commonly referred to as Socia ...

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. File:0611-Nrd-001.jpg, Old Ikarus IK-4 bus in Bucharest File:Skopje Sudska palata.jpg, Ikarus IK-160 articulated bus in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Image:beo ikarbus 00.jpg, Ikarbus buses delivery in Belgrade During the 1990s

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

and international sanctions imposed on

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

, 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,

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,

engine * IK-112LE, Mercedes-Benz OC 500 LE chassis * IK-206 articulated, vertical

engine * IK-218N articulated low floor,

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.

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

Metrobus Metrobus may refer to: Transport services Bus Rapid Transit *MetroBus (Bristol), a bus rapid transit system in Bristol, England, United Kingdom *Metrobus (Buenos Aires), a bus rapid transit system in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Metrobus (Istanbul), a ...

( 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,

engine) * IK-102 (solo, RABA engine) * IK-201 (articulated, horizontal

engine) * IK-202 (articulated, horizontal RABA engine) * IK-203 (articulated, horizontal Mercedes engine)

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Official website
(Serbian) {{European bus builders 1923 establishments in Serbia Aircraft manufacturers of Yugoslavia Bus manufacturers of Yugoslavia Manufacturing companies based in Belgrade Serbian brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1923