Greek cars

Namco's 80-year-old boss, Petros Kontogouris, is a visionary. He is a firm believer in the quality of Greek products. But he and his team are currently at loggerheads with the Greek bureaucracy.

It's an experience shared by many other smaller Greek businesses, who find themselves dealing with paperwork when they could be creating new jobs for the battered Greek labor market and creating investments to pull the country out of its crisis. In light of this, Kontogouris is placing his hopes on investment from Germany.

Betting on Greece

He wants Germany to support Greek industry by any means, "to help the country export more again." This could mean forms of collaboration that could serve as an example for many future investments. This is the only way to help Greece in the long run, he says. "Everything else, such as tourism, is all well and good, but it does not bring the same results to the economy."

Greek bureaucracy needs to speed up

The head of Greece's only car factory is waiting for the building licenses and approvals from a government testing department that are needed before Namco can start building its fourth-generation Pony. But how long can he wait? Namco is not the only Greek company that is bogged down by state licensing authorities, but it is one of the largest. And it has a long-standing business relationship with Germany.

A Greek-German co-production

Beginning in 1973, German companies such as Intelco and Fahr AG supplied the Greek firm with the equipment and spare parts that went into its vehicles. But the high-tech German designs were simplified so they could be marketed in Africa, Asia and South America. This successful Greek-German system produced nearly indestructible SUVs, fire engines, trucks and military transporters that are still used in numerous developing countries.

Keeping it low-tech

"The engines were supplied by Citroen, Ford, Volkswagen and Deutz, and we took care of the body," Kontogouris explained. He said the stripped-down design was a strong point: "We consciously avoided electronics that do not work in hot developing countries."

Today, he is betting on manufacturing and export as the way out of the crisis. "This is the real backbone of the Greek economy."

Hope for new jobs

Namco's Thessaloniki plant is capable of producing 6,000 to 8,000 new cars each year. That's enough to get a toehold in the world market again. The company is still known for its boxy Pony, which was sold around the world. The tough offroader can be had for only one-third of the price of similar models from global makers. Older Ponys in good condition go for good prices among members of its active and enthusiastic fan club.

Now, the development phase for the Pony 4 is complete - and it could go into production immediately. But it still has to wait for government approval. It's evidently not so easy to create 2,800 new jobs in the hard-hit northern Greek region.

Building a better future

Kontogouris hopes production can finally begin in the coming year. The businessman has big plans for the future. He says his financial models are tried and true. He hopes to increase the company's 17 million euros in share capital to 30 to 40 million euros by issuing a "people's share." And he's counting on the support of the Greeks abroad.

No support from the Greek government

"We do not believe in the banks and their lending policies, which caused worldwide economic chaos," Kontogouris said. "We are relying on broad-scale support." He said there had been hardly any politicians over the years who had backed him and his employees.

"Despite that, right now we are present in the markets of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Mozambique and Vietnam. We're currently building a car for Vietnam with the engine from the Toyota Yaris."

Greece, he says, has highly skilled automotive engineers - but unfortunately, they can hardly find any more work. People in Germany know this, he said, because many of these engineers have emigrated there. "But now it is time that we give these people work again in Greece."