Automeccanica was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

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 Autokinitoviomihania Ellados (Car Industry of Greece) was founded in Athens in 1975 by a group of Greek businessmen, including the owners of the company importing Fiat in Greece. History The new company made a rather ambitious appearance in th ...

'' (meaning 'Greek Car Industry') a company founded in 1975 to also produce vehicles of this type – it assembled

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

Fissore models based on

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

products, as well as other

models and variants. Automeccanica followed a different path, building the ''Zebra'' model, a passenger-utility car based on the ''

Daihatsu Charade The Daihatsu Charade is a supermini car produced by the Japanese manufacturer Daihatsu from 1977 to 2000. It is considered by Daihatsu as a "large compact" or "supermini" car, to differentiate it from the smaller ''kei car'' compacts in its line ...

'', as well as assembling the ''Charade'' itself. In 1985, when the law favoring the ''Zebra''-type vehicles changed, Automeccanica stopped its production (after about 2,000 units had been built) and started licence production of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Lada Niva The Lada Niva Legend, formerly called the Lada Niva, VAZ-2121, VAZ-2131, and Lada 4×4 (), is a series of four-wheel drive, small (hatchback), and compact (wagon and pickup) Off-road vehicle, off-road cars designed and produced by AvtoVAZ sinc ...

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.

References

* L.S. Skartsis, "Encyclopedia of Greek vehicles and aircraft", Achaikes Ekdoseis/Typorama, Patras, Greece (1995) * K. Bitsikokos, "Affordable cars made in Greece", ''Auto Bild (Hellas)'', issue 22, Feb 29, 2008 * "35 Years 4 Trohoi" (collectible edition of the ''4 Trohoi'' auto magazine), Technical Press, Athens (2004)

External links

Site with car brochures, including early model Automeccanica Daihatsu Zebra
Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Greece 1995 disestablishments in Greece {{Greece-company-stub