Theologou was one of the first vehicle manufacturers in Greece. It was created by Nikos Theologos, a Greek mechanic who had lived and worked for a few years in the US, and founded this company after he returned to Athens, Greece in 1906. Around 1916 he designed and constructed a light passenger car with a motorcycle engine; according to his descendants, the efforts had started in 1908, and since 1916 a small number were built. His company, nonetheless, produced a variety of bus and truck bodies, mostly on Ford chassis in the 1920s. By the late 1920s it was facing strong competition by larger companies like Tournikiotis and Athena in Athens, Bouhagier in Patras and others, which also produced vehicles on imported chassis, and was soon eclipsed by them.
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.
Saracakis Group of companies is a major Greek commercial and industrial group, for two decades a traditional competitor to Biamax. Two of the most talented Greek vehicle engineers who had worked for Biamax, A. Rizos and I. Dracoulis also worked for Saracakis, Dracoulis having designed the company's characteristic, recognizable 'Σ' logo.
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.
Malkotsis was 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.
Balkania was the trade name of 'K. Zacharopoulos A.B.E.E.' a Greek industrial and trading company based in Athens that produced 4x4 jeep-type vehicles and 4x4 trucks. Since 1945, K. Zacharopoulos had been involved in vehicle repair and rebuilding. The Balkania company was founded in 1954 and since 1972 it imported Romanian and Indian vehicles. In 1975 it designed and introduced its own Autotractor model, a 4x4 multi-purpose truck with a Mercedes-Benz 3200 cc Diesel engine, metal cabin and a payload of 1,500 kg (3,307 lb). In 1979 the model was redesigned, with a modern synthetic cabin. It was produced, as some similar Greek vehicles, until a change of a favorable categorization for agricultural vehicles in 1984 limited its prospects. The vehicle was modestly successful, as it exhibited certain quality problems.
Automeccanica was a Greek automobile producing company. Founded in 1979, it was one of the companies that produced the "passenger-utility" type of vehicle popular in Greece at the time for tax categorization reasons. Its creators were former executives of Autokinitoviomihania Ellados a company founded in 1975 to also produce vehicles of this type – it assembled Italian Fissore models based on Fiat products, as well as other Fiat models and variants. Automeccanica followed a different path, building the Zebra model, a passenger-utility car based on the Daihatsu Charade, as well as assembling the Charade itself. In 1985, when the law favoring the Zebra-type vehicles changed, Automeccanica stopped its production and started licence production of the Soviet Lada Niva model, while it developed its own cabrio-version of the car. In 1988 it acquired its former "father" company, Autokinitoviomihania Ellados and the latter's factory in Thiva. Automeccanica went out of the car-construction business in 1995.
MAVA Company was the Greek importer of Renault automobiles. In 1979, it decided to enter the car-production business introducing a passenger-utility car, a type then very popular in Greece for tax cetagorization reasons. MAVA assigned the creation of the car to Georgios Michael, a Greek designer credited with the design of Neorion Chicago, as well as that of several other Greek vehicles. Michael and his team completed the development and prototype construction in record-time and the car, named Farma, was introduced the same year. MAVA had insisted that the car should be presented as a "Renault model" and thus the prototype was tested and approved by the French company.
EBIAM was a Greek company based in Thessaloniki that, among others, produced 4x4 trucks. It belonged to a generation that benefited from a Greek law classifying any vehicle that could be used for agricultural purposes as "agricultural machinery".
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.
TEMAX is today the leading Greek manufacturer of fire-fighting vehicles, while under its previous name, Tangalakis, it has been one of the most historic bus manufacturers in that country.
The Dimitriadis model 505 was a Greek microcar developed in 1958 by G. Dimitriadis, founder of the Bioplastic boat and automobile manufacturer. This car represented his first effort in automobile production, and was presented in a number of exhibitions in Greece. According to Mr. Dimitriadis, its production was eventually considered non-profitable compared to that of three-wheelers. Thus, he switched to the licence production of the German Fuldamobil three-wheeler.
The Pony Super was a car built by NAMCO, a Greek vehicle manufacturer, between 1985 and 1992. It represented an effort by this company to produce a successor to its first generation Pony (Pony-Citroën), following the same principle of a versatile, cheap vehicle that could form a basis for several versions for different uses. In complete contrast to its predecessor, though, it failed in the Greek market, produced in only a few hundred units.
Autokinitoviomihania Ellados was founded in Athens in 1975 by a group of Greek businessmen, including the owners of the company importing Fiat in Greece.
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. Its products have included walking tractors, a family of characteristic Greek three-wheel vehicles combining truck and tractor functions, "proper" tractors and four-wheel trucks ; mechanical equipment like clutches and gearboxes for use in its vehicles were also produced. Its main market was Greece, although some of its walking tractors were also exported. Annual vehicle production in the late 1970s and early 1980s averaged 500 units.
