Successors to Ikarus (Hungarian company)
Successors to Ikarus are all those companies, created after 2003 and sooner or later started producing vehicles under the brand of the original company. Prelude Ikarus was a bus manufacturer based in Budapest and Székesfehérvár, Hungary, established in 1895. Ikarus later became a prominent factory in Hungary and was able to dominate most of the Eastern Bloc countries' markets. In 2003, due to numerous financial struggles and a change in ownership, the company was shut down. Ikarus was outlived by one of its subsidiaries called Ikarus EAG, but it was also shut down in 2007 by the then parent company Irisbus. The last chairman of the main company Ikarus, was called Gábor Széles. Under his leadership, Ikarus was sold to Irisbus. Széles, a successful businessman and close partner of the Hungarian government increased his wealth while the company slid towards bankruptcy. In 1998, Széles bought some of the shares from the Hungarian state and in return promised to provide work for the companies' employment for the next ten years or otherwise he'll have to pay back hundreds of millions of forints to the state. Since 2003, Széles has constantly tried reviving the Hungarian bus manufacturing, without any major success. Hungarian Bus Kft. After only two months since the shut down of Ikarus in 2003, Széles established a new company called Hungarian Bus Kft. and promised to start producing new vehicles. Yet the production did not start until 2007. In this company 50% share belonged to Széles' other company called Műszertechnika Holding Rt. The latter managed to buy back the factory in Székesfehérvár and the rights to produce buses from Irisbus, but not the brand. The "new" vehicle was heavily based on the Ikarus C56 model, which was basically an Ikarus 256 and therefore 30 years old construction with modern design. The model was called IK HB 122L, in which "IK" refers to "Ikarus". It was Széles' way to bypass the agreement with Irisbus. After all, Hungarian Bus only managed to build five units and in 2007 it already ceased to exist. Széles has been widely criticized for only creating the company to avoid paying back an enormous amount of money to the state as compensation for his unfulfilled promise. Magyar Autóbuszgyártó Kft. Auto Rad Controlle Kft. The Auto Rad Controlle Kft. or ARC, was originally established in 1989 and was serving as one of the many suppliers of Ikarus. Later on, they started to repair autobuses and in 2005 they developed and produced their first vehicle the ARC 187, an 18,75 metres long 5-doored, articulated bus. The company soon released two other models, the ARC 127 and 134, as well. Széles and his proposal In 2010, Széles, who by this time managed to license the Ikarus brand from Irisbus, proposed a deal to ARC, which consisted of the following: the Műszertechnika Holding Rt. and Auto Rad Controlle creates a new company called Magyar Autóbuszgyártó Kft. (eng.: Hungarian Autobus Manufacturer Ltd.). The former gives the Ikarus name for the vehicles and