Portaro

Portaro
IndustryAutomotive
FounderHipólito Pires
José Megre
Portaro
A 1990s Portaro 280DCM 2800 Diesel 4WD
Overview
ManufacturerPortaro
Production1975-1995
AssemblyLisbon, Portugal
Body and chassis
Body styleSport utility vehicles

Portaro was a Portuguese 4WD offroad utility vehicle which was based on the earlier Romanian original ARO 24 Series 4X4 model produced under license in Portugal. Portaro 4WD models were made between 1975 until 1995. The Portaro name was a portmanteau of "PORT" for "Portugal" and "ARO", the Romanian manufacturer of the offroad vehicles used as the base.

History

1981 Portaro 260 and 240

Land Rovers had been imported to Portugal by a company called Garagem Vitória (GV) in Lisbon, but when British Leyland decided to take over distribution, GV found themselves looking for a replacement. The idea of locally assembling imported, Romanian ARO body and chassis in CKD form with Western engines was born. Sociedade Electromecânica de Automóveis (SEMAL) was formed, with entrepreneur and industrialist Hipólito Pires as Technical Director, with help from business partner José Megre and mechanical engineer Costa Freitas. The initial plan had been to use Perkins diesel engines, but diesel engines from Peugeot were also installed early on, along with petrol engines from Volvo and Opel. Finally, GV obtained the distributorship for Daihatsus and Portaros began installing Daihatsu diesel engines. The first Portaro was built in 1975.

Their vehicle sold under the new brandname Portaro was an improved derivative version from the original ARO 240 4WD Series from the 1970s looking very similar in concept and style to the British worldwide famous Landrover 4WD but using an original Romanian cross country standard iron chassis and many parts, instead of industrial aluminium.

After the first model, the Portaro 240 2500 4X4, which was a basic offroad vehicle much like an early 1970s Landrover 88D SWB 4X4 but powered by an original Daihatsu Diesel 2530 cc, 76 PS (56 kW) running gear, sales were instant as there was no other new domestic rival at the time, save for the unique, well-known Landrover a brand name available for sale since the early 1960s in Portugal. The brand name Portaro 4X4 appeared in 1975 and came in two main versions: The Portaro 4X4 200 Series, an offroad utility jeep, and later in 1977, the Portaro Campina 4X4, the 300 Series, an offroad pickup truck version both models enjoying healthy sales in the 1970s and 1980s with hardly any equivalent rivals to match at the time with its own new original Model Range quickly being offered to potential plentiful owners.

Portaro at International Auto Showroom - 1980s

Most of the Portaro 4X4 vehicles produced were originally fitted with Daihatsu Diesel 2500cc and 2800cc engined 4WD models like the "240, 250, 260, 280" followed by the 4WD pick up models "Campina 280L, 320" and "350 Super". In addition to several other new 4WD prototypes, two new Portaro models were also manufactured beginning in 1982: the "210 PT Turbo 4WD" and "230 PV 4WD" were powered by Volvo Redblock engines, 2127 cc and 2316 cc engines more typically seen in the Volvo 240 Series cars at the time. These were mainly intended for motorsports, being seen in events like local offroad motor racing and rally racing during the 1980s. The 230 PV became the most successful Portuguese-made vehicle ever used for offroad racing.

Semal Tagus Diesel 4X4, a licence built Rocar TV van with the mechanical part from an ARO 24

Model Range

This is a complete list of all the original GV-Semal brand, makers of the Tagus and the Portaro Model Range of 4X4 vehicles manufactured 1975-1995 including the models later produced by the FMAT company.

GV Semal Tagus 4WD Model Range

Made from 1976 to about 1986. All were based on the original Romanian Rocar TV 4WD model and all are fitted with the Daihatsu 2530 cc 76 PS (56 kW) diesel engine. Around 5,000 units were produced in total. The only model offered was called Tagus GV 250 Diesel 2500 4X4; it was available in eight different bodystyles: Furgão (three-seater van), Misto (six-seater glazed van), Pickup (three-seater truck), Ambulance, bare chassis truck, Fire Engine, Military Truck, Minibus.

GV Semal Portaro 4WD Model Range

(From 1975 the original offroad models started production at the SEMAL factory in industrial Setubal later production moving northeast to the FMAT factory at Tramagal ending here in 1995)

Also at the large FMAT factory complex any potential customer to Special Order could choose the current original Daihatsu TURBODIESEL 2800cc 117 bhp running gear to be supplied to any of the then original Portaro 280 4WD Series similar to those as used in the popular DAIHATSU Delta lorries, Rocky, Taft and Wildcat 4WD models.

By 1990 the original company who assembled Portaro 4X4 offroad vehicles SEMAL sold the production rights, the tradename and all the spares parts stocks to the larger "FMAT" company at Tramagal an industrial town near Abrantes east of Lisbon next to the famous Tagus river in rural Santarem who have been making agricultural equipment and industrial machinery since the late 1890s. Motor vehicle assembly was to become an important thing and the firm actually were assembling original French Berliet lorries of many types in the 1950s until the 1980s a weekly operation at FMAT so output production had quadrupled than it was before making Portaro brand name once more relaunched to the market after a brief absence but this time with a updated new Portaro Model Range for the 1980s. Around 500 Portaros were built at the FMAT manufacturing facilities, with a total of around 7,000 Portaros having been built by 1990.

During the 1990s the Portuguese New Automobile Market the Portaro brand name was facing a stiff competition with many other offroad vehicles and other 4WD manufacturers offering much better prices while others sold superior models too so their sales dwindled slightly and UMM 4X4 the other domestic manufacturer of similar nature were also facing similar situations but at least UMM brand name still sold well. Therefore the FMAT company decided at the time to reduce some of their original Portaro model range due to the economical and financial unrest at the time of the 1990s in Europe particularly in Portugal but unfortunately most of the spare parts were nearly stocked out forcing FMAT to rebuild their own current Portaro model range now fitting them with new modern updated Ford Transit TDI 2500cc 96BHP running gear with higher torque and more powerful engines needed for these large vehicles which became the later "Portaro 250 FMAT ID 4X4", however sales took a downturn in about 1994 and to make matters worse the stocked ARO original spare parts were now running low too in the assembly workshops forcing to a reduced production run of the Portaro brand so it was inevitable that FMAT could not handle this situation any longer and a year later by the Summer of 1995 this marked the end of the Portaro Portuguese brand name thirty years after it arrived upon the scene in the automobile market always enjoying happy sales and with a remarkable automobile career.

Classic Portaro 4X4 vehicles are now rare; the peak of production was about 1,000 per annum in the 1980s. Many 1970s/1980s models are preserved, while others have been entirely rebuilt or are being restored.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Abreu, José Luis (10 October 2021). "Hipólito Pires, o 'pai' do Portaro: "a paixão pelos automóveis é uma questão geracional"". AutoSport (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 Mascarenhas, Manuel (21 April 2016). "Estas 11 marcas de automóveis são portuguesas. Conheces todas?". Razão Automóvel (in European Portuguese). Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  3. ↑ Chapman, Giles (16 February 2023). "The original Dacia Duster is a red relic from another age". Hagerty UK. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 "Portugal teve mais marcas de automóveis do que pensa". ZAP Notícias (in European Portuguese). 13 May 2023. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Portaro, o primeiro todo-o-terreno português" [Portaro, the first Portuguese off-roader]. Museu do Caramulo (in Portuguese). 26 March 2026.