Ikarus (also known as Ikarus Bus, in Hungarian is called Ikarus Autobuszgyár) is a bus manufacturer based in Budapest and Székesfehérvár, Hungary. It was established in 1895 as Imre Uhry's Blacksmith Workshop and Coach Factory (hun.: Uhry Imre Kovács- és Kocsigyártó Üzeme) and, during the Communist era in Hungary, it dominated bus markets of the entire Eastern Bloc and its allies.

The company's direct predecessor was established in Budapest in 1895, when Imre Uhry opened his Blacksmith Workshop. The little company's main profile was to repair carts and horseshoes. However, Uhry constantly upgraded his workshop from the stable income he gained, and within a few years, the workshop started to produce its first carriages, drays and chariots. After a number of expansions, Uhry bought a new plant in 1913, and by the outbreak of World War I, they started to focus on building and repairing truck superstructures. When the war finally ended in 1918, the company was one of the most significant manufacturers. One reason is because the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed and Uhry's company was one of the few not finding itself on the outer side of the new borders. The other is because the company was taking a significant part in the war production.

In the early 1920s, another enlargement of the company was due to happen, which eventually resulted in a new name: Uhry Imre Car-body and Trailer Factory (Uhry Imre Karosszéria és Pótkocsigyár). Prior to the 1930s, the company was primarily producing various and unique superstructures on foreign companies' chassis, like Ford, Mercedes-Benz, FIAT, Büssing or Gräf & Stift. These included trucks, buses and even some passenger cars. The Uhry company was doing better as time went by. In 1929, the 1,000th truck superstructure was produced. Although, at this time, the company did not have any export products, from time to time, some models caught international spotlight. For example, in 1934, the company's luxury autobus built on a Gräf & Stift chassis was presented on the French Concours d'Élégance car beauty contest. The company's three most important customers were the Hungarian State companies Hungarian State Railways (MÁV), the Hungarian State Railways Auto Transportation Company (MAVART) and one of the predecessors of Budapest Transportation Company (BSzKRt). These companies were constantly ordering from Uhry's factory, up until the Great Depression hit Hungary in 1930. The crisis suddenly cut most of the orders, production was almost stopped. The situation forced Uhry to sell the vehicles below their real value and to take loans. Eventually, by 1932, the situation led to the bankruptcy of Uhry Imre Car body and Trailer Factory.

In 1933, the children of Imre Uhry established a new company on the ruins of the old, which was called Uhri Siblings Car-body and Vehicle Factory (Uhri Testvérek Autókarosszéria és Járműgyár). The children were using their family name with the letter "i" instead of "y". The new company's first three years went by steadily, without any major success, but in 1936, the BSzKRt, the company then responsible for Budapest's public transportation, ordered 50 diesel buses on MÁVAG–Mercedes chassis. These vehicles were still produced with wooden body, but the factory did hire new engineers, who started to work on a metal body variant, which was to be mass-produced.

During this period of the company, it was not customary to actually name their products. When we are referring to each type, it usually has to be done by the chassis it was built on and the year of production.^{[citation needed]}

The first metal-body autobus in Hungary was the Uhri Siblings' MÁVAG N26/36, which was followed by a successor with some modifications every year. Four models were mass-produced, primarily for Budapest: the standard MÁVAG N26/39 and N26/40, as well as the "hill" version N2h/39 and N2h/40. These four were nicknamed Catfish due to their unique front decoration. A total number of 184 units were produced of them.

In 1942, the company, which employed almost a thousand people, started to produce aircraft. The site on Margit Street, founded at that time, was one of the bastions of domestic vehicle production until the turn of the Millennium.

In 1948, like many other enterprises in the newly-established Second Hungarian Republic at the time, the company was nationalised and thus became property of the state, which was followed by the Uhri-family's departure from Hungary (who left out of fear from the newly-formed government backed by the Soviet Union).