Our History
1934
P. TANGALAKIS AUTO BODY Mfg. Co. was established in 1934 as a bus manufacturing firm.
1939-1940
In 1939 a subsidiary company under the name HELLENIC STUDEBAKER PRODUCTS Co. was established, for the distribution of the STUDEBAKER cars and trucks in Greece.
At the same time P. TANGALAKIS AUTO BODY Mfg. Co. continued the production of buses and luxury coaches until October 1940 when Greece entered World War II.
1945
Both companies resumed their activities after the war, in 1945.
1953
In 1953 P. TANGALAKIS AUTO BODY Mfg. Co. invested for a 50% participation in a newly established company under the name of Panas Bros. & Co., to act as the exclusive distributors for VOLKSWAGEN products in Greece until 1971. In 1971 the company stopped being the exclusive distributor for VW products in Greece, but maintained a VW – AUDI authorized dealership with automobile sales, spare parts depot and service facilities until 1983.
1961
In 1961 a merger between P. TANGALAKIS AUTO BODY Mfg. Co. and the HELLENIC STUDEBAKER PRODUCTS Co. resulted in the present company, under the firm name of P.TANGALAKIS CORPORATION.
1963
In 1963 a subsidiary company was established under the name of GENERAL IMPORTS Co. Ltd., which became the exclusive distributors for INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER motor trucks in Greece. This firm was very successful in selling trucks, buses and special purpose vehicles, such as fire fighting vehicles, air crash tenders and aircraft refuellers to the government and military services.
In 1963 P. TANGALAKIS CORP. was the first manufacturer to build a fire-fighting vehicle in Greece and the production line was expanded in building various types of fire-fighting vehicles, primarily on International Harvester chassis.
1965
The manufacturing activities of P. TANGALAKIS CORP. were suspended in 1965 and the production of fire fighting vehicles was transferred to the newly established limited liability company TEMAX LTD. Evidently, TEMAX became the only specialized manufacturer of fire fighting vehicles and special purpose vehicles in Greece.
1967
A newly established cooperation with Konrad Rosenbauer KG, an Austrian manufacturer of fire fighting pumps, equipment and vehicles changes the design of fire fighting vehicles from the original US based prototype over to the European standard. P. TANGALAKIS CORP. has since then been the exclusive distributor for Rosenbauer products in Greece.
1967-1968
The fist fire fighting vehicle cab in Greece was built by TEMAX completely from scratch on our first delivery of 80 fire fighting vehicles on Opel Blitz chassis with 4 door crew cab. Eventually, crew cab extensions of conventional cabs followed on International, Magirus and Mercedes Benz chassis.
1969-1970
TEMAX LTD. acquires its own property and a new factory was built at its current location.
1976
TEMAX LTD became a joint stock company (société anonyme) and acquired its current corporate title, TEMAX S.A.
1979
The first spray booth for trucks in Greece was installed by TEMAX at its premises. The 300 cubic meter spray booth remained the largest one in Greece for quite a few years.
1980-1990
TEMAX manufactured the first airport fire fighting and rescue vehicle in Greece and distributes more than 70 such vehicles all over the Greek airports.
1990
The largest single order in the company history until 1990 was realized for 60 forest fire fighting vehicles built on Mercedes Benz Unimog chassis. 200 Unimogs were built by TEMAX by that time. Temax controlled appx. 80% of the local market by 1990.
1992
TEMAX applied aluminum as a body paneling material which replaced steel paneling. Aluminum was applied on the steel body frame using polyurethane based adhesives, especially produced for the automotive industry.
Skid mounted fire fighting modules equipped with 500/600L water tanks and engine driven fire fighting pumps designed by TEMAX were introduced in Greece as a modular system to be used on light duty pickup trucks.
2000
P. TANGALAKIS CORP. acquires a majority stake at TEMAX S.A.
2003
CAD design was applied on all TEMAX products.
In view of the organization of the organization of the Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens, TEMAX S.A. was chosen as one of the suppliers of fire fighting vehicles destined for the security of the games. At the same year, TEMAX acted as a sub supplier of Rosenbauer International A.G. for fire fighting vehicles destined for the Olympic Games security. The same year, TEMAX became the authorized service center for Metz Aerials (turntable ladders built in Germany) and Bronto Skylift (hydraulic platforms built in Finland), apart from Rosenbauer vehicles and equipment.
2004
TEMAX S.A. established and since then applies a quality system for the design, manufacture, trade, service, modification and maintenance of Fire Fighting, Rescue and Special Purpose Vehicles as well as relevant equipment in full compliance to ISO 9001:2008, certified by TÜV NORD.
2010
TEMAX S.A. expanded its product range with snow clearing equipment. 1500 fire fighting and special purpose vehicles were built by TEMAX by 2010.
2023
The company establishes an ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 system.
