More than 30 years have passed since the last Pony buggy hit the Greek streets, but a Thessaloniki company is preparing to relaunch the famous contraption.
NAMCO, run by the Kontogouri family, will launch a completely new model of the so-called “poor man’s Jeep”, famous during the 1960s and 70s. It will be redesigned from scratch to a high spec. The family aims to produce 24 new Pony per day at less than 7,000 euros per car.
According to Greek newspapers, EBETAM, the Greek Institution for Biotechnological Research and Technological Enhancement, is running all safety tests on the new product. If everything works well, all data will be sent to the Ministry of Transport for official approval of the vehicle. NAMCO representatives said they are in the final stage of that process.
It is some time since a Greek-made car has sought approval for sale, the country’s car industry having been wiped out in the 1980s, due to tough competition.
The 80-year company owner, Petros Kontogouris, claims he got really stubborn about launching this car when he heard a German major military officer claiming “not all countries can make cars”.
As once described in the German press, Pony “is so ugly, it ends up being pretty”. It was one of the most successful Greek cars with 30,000 sold in 14 countries due to its low maintenance and operation costs. Between eight and 10 Pony cars were made per day, with 67 percent of their components made in Greece.
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