Saracakis
| Type | Publicly traded |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing, Retail, Wholesale |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Headquarters | Athens, Greece |
| Products | Cars, Trucks, Buses, Diesel Generators, Spare parts |
Number of employees | 550 (end 2022) |
| Website | www.saracakis.gr |
Saracakis Group of companies is a major Greek commercial and industrial group, for two decades a traditional competitor to Biamax (between themselves the two companies virtually dominated the bus market in Greece). 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.
History
In 1922, Mr. John D. Saracakis established Saracakis Group of Companies in the city of Thessaloniki and the company started importing and selling vehicles and vehicle parts.
Following the success of his first venture, the Head Offices of Saracakis Group of Companies were relocated to Athens in 1941 and the group is formally launched in 1954.
The first Volvo buses with rear mounted engines, known as SBAV, were manufactured at the Group’s industrial facility in Athens in 1965, reaching a production capacity of 1200 units.
Saracakis Group of Companies, acquires in 1950 from Volvo the exclusive import and distribution for Greece of passenger cars, trucks, buses and later on of marine engines, industrial engines and construction equipment.
In 1959, John D. Sarakakis met Honda Motor during the first racing presence of a Honda motorcycle in Europe in the context of the Isle of Man T.T. At that point he decided to become the first Importer - Distributor of motorcycles of Japanese origin in Greece. An official agreement between the two companies was signed in 1963 and the import actually started in 1959. This cooperation was later expanded, in 1968, including also passenger cars, marine engines and power products.
In 1962, the Group started the production of bus bodies on imported chassis. The first Volvo buses with rear mounted engines were manufactured at the Group’s industrial facility in Athens in 1965. The buses are named SBAV. The total production of this bus model is to reach 1200 units. From then on, all Saracakis' own chassis types had designations starting with 'SB' (standing for 'Saracakis Brothers') the first being the SB55 line, on which a variety of city and inter-city buses were developed, followed by SB556, SB85 and SB95. Its first chassisless bus type was the SBAV of 1974, a type improved over the years up to the innovative SBAV90 of 1990. In the same year Saracakis Group signs an official agreement with Komatsu for the import and distribution of construction equipment and forklift trucks in the territory of Greece. The Group is their oldest distributor in the European region.
In 1977, the first articulated bus, of 18m length , nicknamed Dinosaur was first put into operation in the city of Thessaloniki. A simpler model based on the Volvo B10M frame was built for the district of Piraeus.
In 1999, the industrial sector of Saracakis Group manufactures 120 articulated buses for the Athens bus company ( ETHEL ). The model was named ATHÍNA and was the first tri-axle articulated bus to be produced worldwide. The bus had a low bottom floor across its entire length. Exports were also made, mainly to the Middle East. In addition to building complete vehicles (which included light three-wheeler trucks), the company remained a major bus and truck body builder, also assembling 4x4's, tractors, motorbikes, construction equipment, etc. Its best known bus bodies on Volvo chassis were the articulated models for Athens and Thessaloniki (the company boasts the world's first low-floor articulated bus).
In 2000, the industrial sector of the Group innovates again with the production of the first stainless steel bus (40 buses for the city of Thessaloniki).
Present situation
Saracakis survived the storm of the early 1980s (opening of the market to used imports) that almost wiped out the Greek commercial vehicle industry, but its import and trading sectors became predominant. Construction of complete vehicles and other production activities has stopped. The company is the official importer and distributor for the Greek market of Honda motorcycles and cars, Mitsubishi Motors, Volvo Trucks and Bus, Komatsu, Volvo Penta, Volvo construction equipment, Kumho tyres, SDMO, Infinity, Titan, Apollo tyres and Massey Ferguson agricultural machinery.
References
- L.S. Skartsis and G.A. Avramidis, 'Made in Greece', Typorama, Patras, Greece (2003).
- L.S. Skartsis, "Greek Vehicle & Machine Manufacturers 1800 to present: A Pictorial History", Marathon (2012) ISBN 978-960-93-4452-4 (eBook)
External links
- http://www.saracakis.gr
- http://www.saracakis.bg
- Bus manufacturers (in Danish)
- Greek bus builders in Bus-planet.com
 Automotive industry in Greece | |||||
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