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| Industry | Automotive |
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| Founded | 1925 (Tournikiotis-Tangalakis), 1934 (Tangalakis), 1965 (Temax) |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Buses (until 1963), Fire Trucks |
| Website | http://www.temax.gr/ |
TEMAX is a specialised manufacturer of fire and rescue vehicles, trailers and equipment based in Athens, Greece. It also manufactures snow-clearing equipment.
Company activity effectively started in 1925, when Petros Tangalakis joined as a partner G. Tournikiotis, a vehicle body manufacturer based in Athens, founded in 1922. The new joint company saw significant growth becoming the largest in its field, producing a variety of vehicles on imported chassis. In 1934 Tangalakis split off, creating his own company, which remained the leading Greek vehicle produced for nearly three decades, also briefly venturing into passenger car manufacture. During the Axis occupation of Greece in World War II, the factory was put under German control, but they resumed vehicle production in 1945.
The following years were Tangalakis's "Golden Era"; the company (operating two factories in Athens) focused on all-metal bus construction on chassis by Studebaker, Daimler, Volvo, and other manufacturers, producing several models remembered to this date (in some of which it introduced extensive chassis modification to accommodate higher loads and/or different vehicle dimensions). The company's know-how was undoubtedly enriched through its assembly of Wayne models in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
In 1963, facing strong competition from other bus manufacturing companies in Greece, it ventured into fire-fighting vehicle manufacture mainly on International Harvester chassis (chassis assembled by Tangalakis from SKD kits). In 1965, Tangalakis family, Alexandros Ginis, Fanourios Gyrtatos & Antonis Kalogeropoulos created TEMAX, a new company entirely focused on fire-fighting and other specialty vehicle production, which operates successfully to date. Another branch of the original company, though, has continued business under the Tangalakis name, as importers and distributors of fire-fighting and rescue equipment, vehicle parts etc. [1]
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.
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.
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Mego (ΜΕΓΚΟ) was a Greek light vehicle manufacturer, based in Trikala. Its first products, launched in 1947, were utility tricycles. In 1951, it began manufacturing motorized utility tricycles with 50–100cc engines and an unconventional design in which the solo wheel was located at the rear.
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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.
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".
Candia is a Greek company producing Agricultural machinery and equipment, based in Herakleion, Crete. It is representative of many companies in this country, that produced multi-purpose light farm vehicles.
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.
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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.
Diana (Διάνα) is the brand name for agricultural machinery produced by Irene Chrissadakou A.E. a company located in Tavros (Athens), Greece. Founded in 1976, it is one of the most successful light tractor manufacturers in Greece, also managing to survive the crisis in Greek manufacturing industry of the 1980s and 1990s.
 Automotive industry in Greece | |||||
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