His ambitious plan Peter Kontogouri and NAMCO for the production of the legendary Pony, it seems to have stalled for good. Pony, don't expect it to be produced in Greece. Perfect opportunity for some to talk about "sabotage" by the Europeans, or by Greek "traitors". The truth, however, seems far away, however painful it may be. Because, as we will see, Mr. Kontogouris himself is still waiting (!) for the Greek State to take the initiative and give him press approval, even though there is no competent authority in our country (EBETAM was recognized only a month ago and is not yet operational, so how can it give press approval?) and even though the state cannot do so. Yet. Strangely enough, even if the sabotage and traitors' claims were true, experience, concrete examples which we will present below, show that if the Namco there would be a... wide-open road to production.
The statement of the Chargé d'Affaires for Commercial and Economic Relations of the Russian Embassy in Greece, Valery Nikolayev, to Ria Novosti on the possible cooperation of the Lada- Avtovaz with Namco for the production of the Pony (so that Pony can fill the gap of the interruption of imports from Lada in Greece and the rest of Europe) raised hopes and let intentions become apparent. However, Kontogouris says the cooperation he wants with Lada is only at the level of supplying some spare parts for the African market. So, he is against Russian assistance.
So what was Mr. Kontogouris planning to do? Quite simply, the Greek State would create an agency that would give it a type approval and therefore a production license, bypassing European agencies and procedures and, nevertheless, produce and sell it on European soil (even if this only concerned Greece). In practice, this could never happen. Because, how would a car be produced that didn't pass crash tests? That wouldn't wear airbags? That would not comply with the most basic of the safety rules set as a standard for the production of a car by the European authorities? Were development tests carried out in order to obtain type approval so that Greek cars would not be classified as "lethal", as some Chinese cars were? Obviously not and we are open to statements/evidence to the contrary. Why, the question is whether we want Greece to produce real cars, or copies of the 80s...
So getting the Pony, or even the Pony project, to get type approval from a European body, whose standards are too tough, was probably impossible. And, if (we say, IF) the Greek government would write in its old shoes the demands of the European automotive market and allow the production of the Pony on Greek soil, then it would be faced with two possibilities: The first, a few good fines from the Commission for breach of Community law and the second, billion euro lawsuits by European and other car manufacturers, who spend enormous sums of money to obtain type approval, even for the smallest detail, such as a door handle, a mirror, a radio antenna. Why, there would be a question of distortion of competition.
Let's look a little beyond the conspiracy scenarios and the sterile whining about the bad state and the bad Europeans who don't want Greece to produce, especially cars, because they don't want competition. The bitter truth is easy to see if we look at the example of two other Greek efforts. By Replicar Hellaswhich has a factory, which works normally in Katerini (and indeed exports all over the world, with Germany having a large share) and Corres P4. The first Greek supercar. In the case of Korres, the Dimitris Korres got, as he tells us, "easily and quickly" type approval from the responsible organisation, TUV, in Germany. "No problem," he says. "Greece - unfortunately - does not have a car certification and approval body. We have been supervised, as far as the specifications are concerned, by TUV in Munich. And, to say that, it made it very easy for us that we are in the EU and the Eurozone.". The Korres P4, has thus received the necessary Permissions and is already running the production to be made in Greece (at the Replicar plant in Katerini) and in the USA (at the Kirkham Motors plant in Utah). TopSpeed.gr will have a full report on the Korres P4, the first supercar of purely Greek production.
So the question is, why didn't the foreigners and the Greek... traitors sabotage the production of a car that has the potential to do huge damage to their image, since it is innovative and steal shares of the sales pie of luxury SUVs and dealt with a... Pony, which, the only thing that could compete, is the poor Tata in India? The conclusions, are yours, after you read a question paper in Parliament circulating about Namco.
"The bureaucratic obstacles that block the construction of the legendary cars "PONY" in Thessaloniki, by the Greek company "NAMCO S.A.", depriving the city of about 400 new jobs and the possibility of developing a new industrial zone on its eastern side, where the manufacturer could supply domestically produced car seats, headlights and tires, is brought to the fore by the MP for Thessaloniki of the New Democracy, Mr. Theodoros Karaoglou, with a question submitted today (Thursday 23 July 2015) to the competent Minister of Transport and Communications. It is surprising that the company, without having yet started the production of Greek cars of the latest technology, already has 400 orders on hold, while it is also working on a plan to develop a strong export activity.
The problem that prevents the start of the production process, is focused on the fact that while the company has submitted for about five months the relevant file to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, in order to be certified by EVETAM (Anonymous Company for Industrial Research, Technological Development and Laboratory Testing, Certification and Quality SA), however, until today it has not received any response.
The above "hostage", has the result that on the one hand the manufacturer company is financially damaged for every day that passes, as it maintains the factory located in the area of Thermi in Thessaloniki and the 35 employees and on the other hand the business plan for the immediate recruitment of 120 people, which in a reasonable time is expected to reach 400 employees, is not implemented.
On the occasion of the above, Mr.Karooglou asks the competent Minister why the certification procedure of "NAMCO S.A." has not proceeded. by EBETAM, and what actions will he take in order to complete the necessary bureaucratic procedures and not to force the only automotive industry that can operate directly within the Greek borders to flee to a neighbouring country"?
