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The Sfakianakis group of companies is a Greek conglomerate with a wide range of activities, employing over 2800 in 6 countries in 2014.
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.
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.
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, 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.
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.
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.
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]
Tata Motors Limited, formerly Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company(TELCO), is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is a part of Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate. Its products include passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses, sports cars, construction equipment and military vehicles.
Wayne Corporation was a manufacturer of buses and other vehicles under the "Wayne" marque. The corporate headquarters were in Richmond, Indiana, in Wayne County, Indiana, in the United States. During the middle 20th century, Wayne served as a leading producer of school buses in North America.
Superior Coach is a former body manufacturer of the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and yellow school buses. Following major downturns in both segments in the late 1970s, Superior was liquidated by its parent company in 1980. From 1925 to 1980, the company was based in Lima, Ohio.
Theologou was one of the first vehicle manufacturers in Greece. It was created by Nikos Theologou, 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. Around 1918 he designed and constructed a light passenger car with a motorcycle engine; only one was built. His company, nonetheless, produced a variety of bus and truck bodies, mostly on Ford chassis in the 1920s. By the mid-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.
BIAMAX(Proper Greek pronunciation Viamax) was a Greek vehicle manufacturer. In the late 70's it was one of the biggest Greek companies, operating three factories and several other auxiliary facilities throughout the country. In addition, BIAMAX became a leading industry in Greece, in areas including Quality Assurance, technical training, process documentation and Research & Development. Although its main activity was vehicle manufacture, some of its subsidiaries were also involved in areas like tourist services, exports of farm products and shipping.
Petropoulos is today a major importer and distributor of vehicles and heavy machinery, having been, at the same time, one of the "historic" Greek engine and vehicle manufacturers.
Mego (ΜΕΓΚΟ) was a Greek light vehicle manufacturer, based in Trikala. It started business in 1947 producing 3-wheel utility bicycles to be followed in 1951 by motorized three-wheel utility vehicles with 50-100cc engines and an unconventional layout.
Saracakis Brothers 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.
Hellenic Vehicle Industry (ELVO) is a Greek vehicle manufacturer based in Thessaloniki.
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.
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.
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".
Iochpe-Maxion S.A. is an automobile components manufacturer based in São Paulo.
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.
GAZ Group is a Russian automotive conglomerate headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod. It comprises 18 manufacturing facilities in eight regions of Russia, as well as sales and service organizations.
Bouhagier Patras or Buhayer Patras was considered to be the longest-lived vehicle body manufacturer in Greece. It was founded in 1890 and dissolved in 2004.
This article provides an overview of the automotive industry in countries around the world.
Serbia's automotive industry is one of the most important industrial sectors and makes about 15% of industrial output of the country and 18% of all exports.
The Sakthi Group is an Indian Conglomerate Company with operational areas in India, China, Europe, Middle East and Detroit, MI, USA. The group has operations in sugar, dairy, industrial alcohol, automobile distribution and components, transportation, energy, textiles, IT, education and health care. N. Mahalingam is the chairman. The group has automotive dealerships for leading brands of Maruti Suzuki and Tata vehicles in various places in South India. The group is also involved in Petrol Pump Operations, Indane LPG Distribution and the sale of consumer products and electronics. It also has a footprint in the textiles industries with Sri Sakthi Textiles Ltd.