AHC: Major automotive maker sets up plant in 1930's Greece

One of the problems for Greece when it went to war with Italy in WWII was it's lack of industrial automotive base. In OTL, different major manufacturers (Ford, Chevy for example) set up plants in different European countries, including in Eastern Europe. Greece is a central location for both S. Eastern Europe and the near eastern countries, and even the Soviet Union. As such it seems a good place to set up shop and sell vehicles of all types, tractors, trucks, automobiles. Doing this would increase Greek revenues, raise the standard of living, and enable them to have a more robust military capability.
The US makers in particular seem to have had more of a capacity to invest overseas than European makers. That could simply be due to proximity negating the need for a new plant when they could just ship it by rail or cargo ship, or domestic concerns such as union opposition. I've done a small amount of research into this online, and have not gotten very far. I'd appreciate your thoughts and input.
 
found this:

One of the most remarkable Ford factories was established in a former warehouse in Trieste, Northern Italy in 1922. During the 1920s, it had a 75 per cent share of a market covering 36 countries on three continents, including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

Other prewar assembly plants were located in Belgium (Company founded 1922, assembly began the same year), Netherlands(Company founded 1924 - assembly began 1932); Turkey (Branch founded 1928 - assembly began 1929); Romania (Company founded 1931 - assembly began 1936) and Hungary (Company founded 1938 - assembly began 1941). Companies with no prewar assembly facilities were Sweden (Company founded 1924); Egypt (Branch founded 1926); Finland (Company founded 1926); Portugal (Company founded 1932) and Greece (Company founded 1932)


Now Fiat whined to the Moose in 1929 about lost sales, and laws were passed that forced Ford to leave Italy, while his intention was to expand operations to two more cities.

So one PoD would be that Ford goes big in Greece. Since 1917, Henry Ford demanded that new branch plants be accessible by water for Barges and Ships, so Greece is well set for that, and in place of Romania.
That gets you making Model A cars and Model AA Trucks or Model B and BB Trucks depending on the date

That lets you convert to making armored cars and light tracked vehicles, like the Bren/Universal Carrier
 
Holy Crap! That alone would be a game changer! Enough trucks, tractors and light armored vehicles for the Greek Army, tractors for farmers, and exporting too. The Fordson tractors were made in Ireland and then the UK from the twenties onward, which were quite an improvement for farmers in time spent and costs (once the initial purchase price had been paid, taking into account animal forage and upkeep) so it this is expanded to Greece vice Ireland or the UK, then Turkey and the Balkans would seem good target markets. I'll go through my collected sites again and see what else can be gleaned. Thanks!
 
Why greece cannot make it's own state owned car company?

From what little I can find online, I cant really say. I am reading hints of tax laws and governmental apathy towards the automotive industry, but am not knowledgable to comment on it. There are a number of small manufacturers in the country, including those making diesel engines, so the technical ability is there. My WAG is that it is a matter of money, and a realization (there are some govt bureaus/arsenals manufacturing weapons and such) that they can't do it as cheaply as the civilian market.
 
This site: http://www.academia.edu/2899187/Gre...facturers_1800_to_present_A_pictorial_history
gives an excellent PDF book on Greek industry during the time in question. What seems to be lacking was sufficient capital to make a Greek automotive (meaning not just automobiles but trucks, trailers, tractors) viable through export markets. Petropoulos for example, was completing automobiles by adding bodies to Ford and Willy's Overland chassis and engines. They did the same for Diamond T and International trucks. Had Ford bought that company, and perhaps a couple of the other small manufacturers (Malkotsis, who made engines, or Theologou, who put together Ford parts) they could have made significant inroads into the markets in the Balkans, and enriched Greece in the process.
 
Though it is not in Greece, BMC Turkey was established at Izmir (formerly Smyrna), Turkey in 1964. Maybe something similar could happen if Greece managed to gain Smyrna and more from winning the Greco-Turkish war?

However it may cause butterflies concerning one Alex Issigonis who was born in Smyrna prior to being evacuated to Malta ahead of the Great fire of Smyrna and later moving to the UK. On the other hand though he already inherited British citizenship via his Anglophile father Constantine Issigonis and might have moved to the UK in any case. - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMC_(Turkey)

Imagine if this ATL company became a Greek version of Authi, Innocenti or BMC Australia.
 
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The favorite Greek auto I've seen
upload_2017-12-4_23-36-43.png
in this. The Neorion Chicago. If they put this into the US tomorrow, they'd be very rich men.
 
Germany gets one more truck factory.
Russia is in a little more trouble in 1941.
Or increased Greek resistance delays Barbarossa until spring 1942 , then things get interesting.
 
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