NABI's U.S. operations also include an aftermarket parts division in Delaware, Ohio (at the former Flxible factory),[2] and an after-sales service center at Mira Loma, California.

[6][7] In the 1980s, Ikarus Hungary entered strategic partnerships with domestic assemblers to sell its Ikarus 280 articulated bus to the United States and Canadian transit markets as the Crown-Ikarus 286 (with Crown Coach in Los Angeles) and Orion-Ikarus 286 / Orion III (with Ontario Bus Industries in Mississauga, Ontario), respectively.

Under these partnerships, partially finished rolling chassis were shipped from Hungary for local fitment of seats and drivetrains compatible with domestic transit fleets.

[11] Its incorporation was accompanied by FHF's concurrent formation of a Hungarian holding company, North American Bus Industries, Kft.

The plant in Anniston, AL opened in 1993 under this business arrangement, performing final assembly operations, delivery and after-sales service using unfinished knock-down buses produced in Hungary.

[13] Delivery of unfinished buses was accomplished by rail shipment from Budapest to Bremerhaven, then shipment by roll-on/roll-off ocean vessels to Charleston, SC, and then by delivery on flatbed trailers to Anniston, AL. At the time of incorporation, Ikarus' business was in decline due to unusual political and economic changes following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

to produce its own unfinished buses in Budapest and deliver them to its subsidiary in Alabama for final assembly and delivery to U.S. customers.

Once hired, this group leased facilities in Ohio, and began to expand the sale of aftermarket parts to operators of competing makes of buses.

Thereafter, in August of that year, the company raised $US 27.1 million in a public offering, with its shares listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange.

[16] NABI previously had announced its partnership with TPI in 1998, adding that three composite-bodied products would be developed: 30-foot and 40-foot low-floor transit buses, and a 45-foot motor coach.

[25] Delivery of production versions began the following year, and a shorter, 42-foot derivative was eventually produced, making its debut at the American Public Transportation Association Bus & Paratransit Conference in May 2006.

[26] After continuing disappointing financial results through 2004, NABI, Inc. sold its Optare subsidiary in 2005,[27] and it also idled its composite bus production facility in Kaposvar, laying off 23% of its workforce in Hungary.

Also, in December 2005, the FTA refused to extend the previously granted waivers exempting the CompoBus from Buy America requirements.

[28] (Concurrently, the Hungarian company that was not being acquired changed its name to ExBus, relegating itself to asset management unrelated to NABI.

A short time later, it was announced that Cerberus had also acquired Blue Bird Corporation of Ft. Valley, Georgia (Blue Bird) thus rendering it a "sister" to NABI, Inc.[28] In June 2007, Optima's operations in Wichita were shut down, and work-in-process, inventory and tooling for Optima's products were moved to NABI's Anniston plant.

Generally at this same time, NABI also shifted the manufacture of its standard-floor model 416 unfinished buses from Hungary to newly leased facilities adjoining its existing Anniston plant.

Under this arrangement, standard-floor body structures and other vehicle elements are fabricated at the adjoining facility and are then towed a short distance into NABI's final assembly operation.

This expansion took the Anniston plant to approximately 1/3 million square feet under roof, not including adjacent leased facilities used for manufacture of standard-floor unfinished buses.

Restyling of both products was accomplished primarily by using a redesigned front mask, leaving the body structure unchanged from earlier versions of the same models.

At the same time, NABI elected to discontinue promotion of its Hungarian Sirius bus, thus ending all production in Hungary and relegating all manufacturing and final assembly activities to its facilities in the USA.

[37] The Blue Bird school bus production assets were not included in the sale to New Flyer; they remain owned by Cerberus.