|
The Crown-Ikarus 286 is a type of transit bus that was manufactured for the U.S. market from 1980 until 1986, under a joint venture between the Ikarus Body and Coach Works (Ikarus), of Budapest, Hungary, and Crown Coach Corporation from Los Angeles, California After a number of production problems arose, the Crown-Ikarus 286 was withdrawn from the market in 1986, following the collapse of the joint venture. A total of 243 examples were produced for nine different operators. ==Background== In the late 1970s, the era of the "fishbowl" mass-transit buses in the United States and Canada was coming to a close; GM and Flxible ended US production of their "New Look" buses in 1977 and 1978, respectively. To gain a share in building the next generation of mass-transit buses, many manufacturers commenced design work for new vehicles. To diversify its business beyond the fragile school bus industry of the late 1970s, California-based Crown Coach sought to enter the mass-transit market. While its chief competitor Gillig Corporation began design work on what would become the Gillig Phantom, Crown Coach did not have the resources on its own to develop its own design from the ground up. In 1979, the company developed a partnership with Hungarian bus manufacturer Ikarus Body and Coach Works. In addition for Crown to gain production of a mass-transit bus, the partnership allowed for Hungary to obtain much-desired hard currency and to ease a trade imbalance between Eastern Europe and the West.〔 At the time, Ikarus produced 13,000 transit buses annually,〔Bushell, Chris; and Stonham, Peter (eds.) (1986). ''Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1986'', pp. 484–486. London: Jane's Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7106-0826-8.〕 triple the combined production of all US manufacturers, making it one of the largest bus manufacturers in the world〔 By partnering with Crown Coach, who built its school buses for a 20-year lifespan, the final assembly would be completed in the United States to much more stringent American standards. In addition, final assembly in California allowed the vehicles to be customized to American needs, such as the inclusion of wheelchair lifts for passengers with disabilities.〔 Sales contracts were managed by Crown Coach, so as to make it easier to ensure that the work satisfied U.S. federal "Buy America" requirements〔 (). All buses manufactured under the Crown-Ikarus name were considered model 286, although different orders carried a seldom-noted numerical suffix, for example Portland's being model 286.02. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Crown-Ikarus 286」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|