Biotechnia Ellinikon Trikyklon, or BET, was a small vehicle manufacturer founded in Athens by Petros Konstantinou. It was one of several manufacturers - the first appearing in the early 1940s - that converted BMW or other motorcycles into light utility three-wheelers. In 1965 it entirely designed and built a small five-seat passenger car with a BMW 125cc motorcycle engine. Although the type was certified, only one was built due to problems in availability of parts for further production. Following this design, three-wheeled truck models were developed and produced. A second passenger car model was designed and introduced in 1973, known as model 500, with a Fiat 500cc engine. With metal body, seating up to five passengers and featuring very good road handling, it was a rather advanced three-wheeler for its time. It was certified for production and 15 were built, of which one survives to this date in excellent condition. There were even talks with a South African company involving plans for exports or even transfer of production to that country, but they were never realized. The company ceased production in 1975.
MEBEA was an important Greek vehicle manufacturer, producer of light trucks, passenger automobiles, motorcycles, motorbike engines, agricultural machinery and bicycles.
STYL KAR was named after its founder, the engineer Stylianos Karakatsanis. Its entire history is representative of many Greek companies who were engaged in the construction of simple utility vehicles.
Alta was a Greek manufacturer of light and heavier three-wheeler trucks, motorcycles and passenger cars. Production of motorcycles and three-wheeler trucks with Sachs 50cc engines started in its first factory in Athens in 1962. The 50S motorcycle model was known for its reliability. In 1967 it designed and developed model A700, a heavier three-wheel truck with 2-cylinder BMW 35 hp engine and a payload of 800 kg. The truck, featuring a pleasant design and high reliability became one of the most successful vehicles of its kind in Greece. In 1968 Alta introduced a three-wheel passenger car, model A200. Powered by a Heinkel 200cc engine, the car was based on the German Fuldamobil, but with Alta's own body design. The company moved production to a new, larger factory in Elefsis where it operated until 1978.
Attica was a brand name of vehicles produced by Bioplastic S.A., a company created in Moschato, Athens by Georgios Dimitriadis, a figure in Greek automotive history.
DIM Motor Company, a Greek automobile maker, was created by Georgios Dimitriadis as a successor to his earlier company, Bioplastic S.A., which had produced the Attica automobile. The DIM represented one more effort by Mr. Dimitriadis to design and develop a modern car entirely by his company's own means. A 400cc, air-cooled, 2-cylinder, 30-hp engine was also developed in-house to power the vehicle, but due to delays in the engine development, the car was introduced with a 600cc engine and other mechanical parts of the Fiat 126 model. A 650cc Fiat engine was also used, in an improved version. The car was finally introduced at the Geneva Motor Show in 1977, and for this reason received more publicity than most Greek vehicles, appearing in many international publications. All development work had been made in a factory intended for its production in Acharnes, while the company was advertised in the Greek press; plans were also made for more versions, including a sports coupe. However, the costs involved and the car's poor prospects in the Greek market resulted in termination of production after only about ten had been produced. The whole project was abandoned in 1982, having been Georgios Dimitriadis' last venture in the automotive industry.
Pan-Car was a Greek producer of automobiles and light trucks, operating between 1968 and 1994. As was often the case in Greece, its name comes from that of its founder, Panayiotis Caravisopoulos. In 1968 it was one of many Greek companies that produced three-wheeler trucks, using Volkswagen engines. In 1977 it introduced beach buggy models built on Volkswagen chassis, which were produced for several years. In 1992 it introduced a jeep-type automobile, also with Volkswagen mechanicals. The model faced a problem common to such ventures in Greece, i.e., receiving type certification for production. That, and financial problems forced the company to go out of business in 1994.
The name SAM stands for Stephanos A. Mbaltas, the founder of this Greek company, one of several that produced three-wheeler trucks in that country, in business between 1966 and 1974. Its first models used 1200cc Volkswagen air-cooled engines, while Ford 1300cc engines powered later models. The chassis developed by SAM was very robust and some of its trucks were surviving 30 years after the company went out of business.
Malkotsis is the trade name for Technica S. Malkotsis A.E., which has historically been the most important Greek engine manufacturer, surpassing several engine manufacturers that flourished in Greece in the 1920s and (mostly) 1930s, like Dimadis-Kanakis in Volos, Peteinaris in Kalamata, Sideris, BIO, and others in Athens, etc. Located in Piraeus, before World War II Malkotsis produced various types of industrial machinery. After the war it produced industrial machinery for several Greek companies, but it progressively focused almost entirely on diesel engines, soon becoming the largest company in its field. Malkotsis engines found use in a variety of industrial applications, while its boat engine models became legendary for their reliability. A series of electric motors was produced as well. Its EM Diesel series included engines specifically designed for powering of vehicles and was employed in Malkotsis's own farm tractor models introduced in 1959. The tractors were produced for only a few years, due to lack of funding and other problems related to a complete lack of state support. The company faced financial problems later, due to competition from cheaper imports, and was acquired in 1991 by Drakos-Polemis A.E., a pump manufacturing company which used all Malkotsis infrastructure for its production purposes.
Ros was the trade name of vehicles produced by the Greek company 'Stavros Konstantinides O.E.', based in Athens. The Ros three-wheeler trucks were the most successful of its kind in Greece, having been produced by the thousands. Ros surpassed in sales even "Greek classics" like Alta and Styl Kar, and the characteristic shape of its trucks could be seen for several years in every corner of the country. And for good reason: The 'Rosaki' was one of the most robust and reliable vehicles ever used in Greece. In 2006, 30 years after the end of three-wheeler production, several Ros were still in use in excellent condition, more than any other three-wheeler type.
AK Hellas was a Greek manufacturer of light trucks and other metal products. It designed and produced two basic types of vehicles - all three-wheelers with 50cc engines, taking advantage of a favorable classification as "motorbikes" according to Greek law. One group of models it produced since 1965 were light trucks with "motorcycle" structure, a type of vehicle also produced in Greece by MEBEA, Mego, Alta, Saracakis, Pitsos, Markal, Naxos and others. The other group of models were "proper" micro-trucks, with "automobile" structure of steering, controls etc. It was in this category that AK Hellas became the biggest truck manufacturer in Greece, leaving behind MEBEA, Delta, Minicar, Zamba and other smaller Greek manufacturers. The company's T200 model, using a Sachs 50cc 4.8 hp engine and with a payload of 150 kg was produced between 1968 and 1975 with three different cab designs and in several versions. According to Dimitrios N. Aggelopoulos, several thousand units were produced, while other branches created by the same entrepreneur, were involved in production of pleasure boats, biological cleaning units, telephone booths, phone switchboards, generating sets, helmets, storage tanks, prefab container houses, wind turbine blades, irrigation systems, etc.
Scavas is the name of sports cars designed by Greek engineer Vassilios Scavas that were never industrially produced.
MotorCar was a Greek three-wheeler truck manufacturer, in business between 1967 and 1971. It was one of the smaller in its category, although rather "professional" in its quality of design and construction. Its models used a chassis developed by MotorCar, in two versions using Volkswagen and German Ford engines, respectively. According to their classification, both models could legally carry only 350 kg, although in practice they were loaded with up to 2 tonnes by their users.
Motoemil was a Greek truck manufacturer based in Thessaloniki. It was named after Emilios Antoniades who started his business, together with his brother Konstantinos, by constructing crude-made trucks assembled from motorcycle and automobile parts. By the mid-1960s, like other similar Greek manufacturers, they were already developing and building complete "automobile" three-wheeler trucks. Motoemil was one of the first of its kind in Northern Greece and soon became the largest in that region, its products sold throughout the country. The first models used 1200cc Volkswagen air-cooled engines. A completely redesigned, more modern-looking model was introduced in 1970, using a German Ford engine.
C.AR was a Greek automotive company, founded in 1970. Originally it was called ARCO, both names being formed from the name of its founder, Constantinos Argyriadis, an engineer and architect. With its headquarters in Thessaloniki and a well-equipped factory in Kilkis it concentrated on design and development of automobiles and related technologies, including composite materials, novel suspension and brake designs, electric vehicles, etc. None of its vehicles, though, entered production and thus this company represents an odd case of personal vision and persistence with catastrophic financial results.
Emporiki Autokiniton was a major Greek automobile trading and industrial company. Systematic vehicle production started in 1968, while the company built a modern vehicle assembly factory in the north of Athens in 1971. A large number of Mazda, Opel and, later, Alfa Romeo models were assembled – usually with a significant proportion of parts locally produced. The company also introduced modified versions of Mazda trucks, including longer versions of the B1500 and B1600 light trucks. A number of the latter was also produced with the company’s own Grezda brand name in the early 1980s, mostly for export. Emporiki Autokiniton was seriously affected by problems largely connected with the labor unrest of the 1980s in Greece and production was eventually terminated in 1985, after a failed attempt to produce a jeep and a 2-tonne truck type of own development.
Dinap was one of the smaller Greek machine and truck manufacturers with its factory on Liosion St., in Athens. The Dinap 1200 was a three-wheel truck produced in the second half of the 1960s. It was powered by a 1200cc, 34 hp (25 kW) air-cooled Volkswagen engine and could legally carry 1,000 kg (2,205 lb). This load was higher than the equivalent for most other three-wheel trucks, but this made little difference since those vehicles were frequently loaded with up to 3 tons.
Record A.E.B.E. was the name of a Greek company producing agricultural machinery and vehicles, founded in Heraklion, Crete in 1957 and dissolved in 1999.
Biomot was a small manufacturer of three-wheeled trucks and other metal products, based in Patras, Greece. Its trucks, produced since 1967, originally used rear-mounted VW air-cooled engines, as well as other VW parts. By 1975 the market for such vehicles was vanishing in Greece, as they were gradually being replaced by four-wheeled imported types, and a new “modernized” front-engined model introduced by Biomot failed to save the company.
Super Car was a small manufacturer of three-wheeled trucks based in Agios Vassileios, near Patras, Greece. It operated between 1968 and 1974, producing light trucks powered by 1300cc VW air-cooled engines. Two different models were produced.
