Irizar was created in 1889 and its founder, a Gipuzkoan entrepreneur named José Antonio Irizar, was the one who decided to take the company from manufacturing iron fittings for carriages into the world of passenger transport. In the late 19th century, the family business stamped its perfectionist hallmark and immersed itself in manufacturing elegant carriages and stagecoaches, an activity that it carried out for almost three decades.

The twenties saw the gradual replacement of animal power with the unstoppable advancement of motor vehicles. And, in 1928, in the context of this transformation in the coach building industry, the first mechanically powered Irizar coach was built. It was a 22 seat vehicle with bodywork on a chassis the customer,  Julián Apaolaza, has acquired in France. Its unique bonnet, called the crocodile, made it one of the most popular vehicles of the time.

They began using metal in coaches and the first hand-crafted semi-metallic coach was launched, which was an extraordinary step forward for the market in terms of design and innovation.

A car-derived-van with an elegant design and quite advanced for its time. And in 1951, the first double-decker coach was produced, which made an enormous impact  because of its design and finishing.

Aplicando por primera vez un armazón de madera dotado de uniones metálicas y cubierto exteriormente con chapa. Este autobús urbano de un piso y medio introducía ya algunas de las innovaciones propias del buen hacer de los hermanos Irizar.

During the 50s, the structure of the company gradually took the form of the company that would, in 1960, become a public limited company. This period saw the beginning of a new stage of consolidation of the Irizar product and the opening of new markets. In addition to beginning to manufacture the first coaches for customers in the Basque Country, Irizar began expanding into Madrid, Barcelona, Malaga and Seville.

A few kilometres from Ormaiztegi, Mondragon saw the birth of industrial cooperatives in the Basque Country, a philosophy that the Irizar brothers adopted in order to involve workers in the future of the company, giving partners the right to participate in its management. In 1963, Irizar became a cooperative with 60 members. The transformation enabled the company to continue its commitment to innovation and product development.

In 1969, Irizar launched the model formally known as the Dinam, whose technical features surpassed its design. The standard model had ventilation using a skylight in the roof and side windows with an upper sliding pane, while the luxury version had air conditioning that used an auxiliary system.

If, during the sixties, Irizar has positioned itself as one of the best coachwork companies in Spain and the first to incorporate air conditioning  as a stock option in its coaches, it was in the seventies when they launched new coach models like the Korosti, which won the Giralda de Oro prize for the best Spanish coach in 1972. Later on, they would develop the Urko and Urepel models.

Durante estos 14 años de fuerte crecimiento económico, Irizar experimenta también un fuerte crecimiento en Ormaiztegi hasta llegar a fabricar más de 1500 carrocerías al año. En el año 2001 se lanza al mercado el Irizar pb, Autocar del Año en España y Coach of the Year en Europa, vehículo que ha merecido los elogios de las mejores revistas especializadas en Europa.

At the height of the crisis, in 2009 Irizar carried out a revolutionary strategy and made the decision to become a manufacturer of complete coaches. It was a transcendental decision for the future of the company given that, in a market where coachwork companies were beginning to have major problems and the majority were disappearing, Irizar became stronger and grew to record historic levels. In parallel, an enormous effort towards industrial diversification and technology was undertaken because they were seen as urgent needs for carrying out the strategy.

In 2011 the Irizar brand of complete coaches was launched, which signified the leap from being a bodywork firm to being a coach manufacturer. While complete coach technology was introduced in 2009, it was in 2011 that the full range was launched in order to expand the supply of conventional buses (chassis plus bodywork) to customers, complementing and providing complete Irizar coaches to all our worldwide markets.

Irizar turned 125 in 2014 and celebrated its anniversary around the world with customers, suppliers, partners and external plant representatives as well as members of the Irizar Group, brands, distributors, the national and international industry press and Irizar's own current and retired staff members.

Even though the decision to create a brand was made in 2009, it was not until 2014 and 2015 that two key elements aligned with building the brand were addressed.

In 2015, Irizar presented the Irizar i8, which is a new high-end coach that is the result of multiple technological solutions developed within the Group and the meticulous attention to aesthetics that arise from the experience and innovative spirit of the brand.

Additionally, for the first time, Irizar attended the Busworld fair with its full range of complete coaches and buses equipped with the Group's latest technological advances in security systems, energy efficiency and storage, freight, fleet management and entertainment.

The knowledge and experience of all the Group's companies combine to create Irizar e-mobility, a company whose business is focused on offering complete electromobility solutions for vehicles as well as their main components and systems for cities. Located in Aduna, it will begin operations in May, 2017.  The plant has a covered surface area of 18,000 m2 and sits on a 37,000 m2 lot.

Contamos con una nueva generación de autocares de alta tecnología para al segmento Premiun, autocares interurbanos modelos clase II con tecnología híbrida o biodiesel y autobuses eléctricos urbanos clase I cero emisiones.
Un catálogo de productos orientado a aportar un diferencial en seguridad, fiabilidad, sostenibilidad, tecnología y rentabilidad a nuestros clientes.

La planta se convierte en la primera fábrica destinada íntegramente a soluciones de electromovilidad de Europa. 

Irizar celebra su 130 aniversario y presenta una nueva gama de autocares más eficientes, más sostenibles y más seguros.

Un año duro con el Covid19 como gran protagonista a nivel mundial.

Irizar se adapta a una nueva realidad llena de incertidumbres y, todavía, fuertemente marcada por el Covid 19.

Irizar lanza el autocar más sostenible de su historia, con una reducción de consumos y emisiones de hasta un 13%. Se alza ganador de los premios Autocar del Año 2023 y Sustainable Bus Award Coach 2023.