Sfakianakis

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Sfakianakis Hellenic Police bus, one of many specialized types developed for state authorities and organizations Sfakianakis police.jpg
Sfakianakis Hellenic Police bus, one of many specialized types developed for state authorities and organizations

The Sfakianakis group of companies is a Greek conglomerate with a wide range of activities, employing over 2800 in 6 countries in 2014.

Greece republic in Southeast Europe

Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, also known as Hellas, is a sovereign state located in Southern and Southeast Europe. Its population is approximately 10.7 million as of 2018; Athens is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Thessaloniki.

Contents

History

The company's origins were based on vehicle manufacture. Originally called Büssing Hellas (after the German manufacturer whose engines it used) it was founded in 1957 succeeding earlier trading companies founded by the same family. Initially building bodies on imported chassis, it soon developed its own chassis family (originally based on a German MAN model, the latter having acquired Büssing). The company's SS500 chassis ('SS' standing for 'Stratis Sfakianakis') was subsequently further developed, and a great variety of bus types was designed and built over it in the following years in the company's factory near Elefsina, with exports to Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Other industrial activities included construction of truck bodies and Japanese Hino chassis assembly. The company was renamed Sfakianakis S.A. in 1993 and among the last types it designed and produced were the SS400 and SS380 minibuses and a new series of SS500 inter-city and coach variants.

Vehicle Mobile machine that transports people, animals or cargo

A vehicle is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles, railed vehicles, watercraft, amphibious vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.

Germany Federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.

Chassis internal vehicle frame

A chassis is the load-bearing framework of an artificial object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart of a motor vehicle, on which the body is mounted; if the running gear such as wheels and transmission, and sometimes even the driver's seat, are included, then the assembly is described as a rolling chassis.

Evolution of the Industrial Division

The Sfakianakis industrial division had managed to survive for decades without any state support, despite fierce competition from imports; a flood of cheaper imports, though, eventually made bus manufacture unprofitable. This division was greatly shrunk in 2006, after the group had very successfully diversified into other business areas including vehicle import and sales and the services sector.

Import good brought into a jurisdiction

An import is a good brought into a jurisdiction, especially across a national border, from an external source. The party bringing in the good is called an importer. An import in the receiving country is an export from the sending country. Importation and exportation are the defining financial transactions of international trade.

Sfakianakis SA was established in 1957 and remains family owned. With 500,000 customers and EUR500m revenues in 2009, [1] Sfakianakis is now the largest automotive group in Greece, leading the market in automotive retail across eight businesses in Greece, Bulgaria and the Republic of Northern Macedonia. Specialist services include the import and distribution of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks and buses, the import and distribution of machinery for the construction, industrial and agricultural sectors, and a network of 24 dealerships retailing brands including Suzuki, BMW, Mini, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Nissan, Volvo, Ford, Opel, Renault, Dacia and Cadillac.

Sfakianakis, through its Executive Lease car rental division, represents Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Greece and thirteen other countries, including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia. [2]

The conglomerate is also active in the mailing sector through its Speedex courier company, with 7 million yearly deliveries through 200 distribution centers servicing 14,000 destinations in 220 countries around the world. Speedex operates through 1,400 highly trained individuals with a fleet of 300 trucks and 700 motorcycles. It also makes air cargo deliveries to island destinations through Express Cargo. [3]

Among other divisions, Sfakianakis is also active in electronics retail chains and large-scale construction through its directly owned subsidiaries. [4]

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References

  1. "Sfakianakis S.A".
  2. "Enterprise Holdings".
  3. "Speedex < Όμιλος - Sfakianakis". Sfakianakis.
  4. "Alpan < Όμιλος - Sfakianakis". Sfakianakis.