The Ikarus Industrial Park will be owned by the Chinese
2019-12-05Date: 2019-08-29 Source: magyarbusz.info Ludányi József
The news has come to light in recent days that the Ikarus Industrial Park in Mátyásföld will be owned by Chinese, but the identity of the buyer is still not officially known. The name of Chinese BYD has also emerged as a potential buyer in domestic bus circles, as the giant company has been present in Hungary since 2016 and also operates a modern assembly plant in Komárom, but according to our information, they are not behind the transaction. At present, all that is known is that the buyer is a company with a Chinese background and registered in Hungary, who bought the 28-hectare land at public auction, together with the 40,000-square-meter factory hall on it.
As is well known, the buyer informed Péter Kovács, the mayor of the XVI. district, to plan to build an assembly plant for electric cars in the area, as well as to set up a logistics center to store and distribute goods from China. During the negotiations with the investor, Péter Kovács arranged that they could not establish a Chinese market in the dilapidated industrial park.
The new owner may also have cultural ideas, at least this is indicated by the fact that the Ikarus House of Culture was also purchased.
The discussions also revealed that the significant investment also required the contribution of the Chinese State. The investor not only bought the site of the former Ikarus factory, but also the recently cleared plot next to it, and also bought the Ikarus House of Culture, built in 1954, next to the former factory. The legal process of land acquisition is currently underway, the new owner is expected to take possession of the property in September. The mayor of the the XVI. district, who is also family-bound to Ikarus through his parents, raised the possibility of creating an Ikarus museum on the site of the former factory. According to him, the new owner was also a buyer for the idea, and promised to examine which building could accommodate a collection showing the history of the legendary Ikarus factory. In 2003,the property became the property of Felikon Kft., a member of the Dutch real estate investment group Atlas Estates for 1.9 billion forint.
At that time it was only the former successor company of Ikarus ( Ikarus Egyedi Autóbuszgyár Kft. ), which was then majority-owned by the French-Italian Irisbus, carried out bus manufacturing activities in the industrial park on the site of the former Ikarus factory in Mátyásföld. The long-established company left the area at the end of 2007, after Irisbus finish production in Hungary, the last Ikarus bus left the factory on December 11, 2007. As the previous owner of the industrial area had not fulfilled his obligations to the state or the district, the local government of the XVI. district initiated its liquidation and the commencement of its implementation. After three unsuccessful auctions, a buyer was found in the area.
Source: Local News, photos: Ikarus archive