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