Poker 126

Autokinitoviomihania Ellados – roughly «Hellenic car industry» – was founded in Athens in 1975 by a group of Greek businessmen, among them the owners of the company importing Fiat into Greece. It became known for the Scout 127, a versatile vehicle between passenger car and van, based on the Fiat 127. Announced as a Greek automobile, it was in fact built under licence from the Italian firm Fissore, at first assembled mostly from Italian parts, and it carried the Fiat badge.

In 1978 A. Ellados developed the Poker 126, the only model of its own. It followed the same idea as the Scout but was based on the Fiat 126. The success of its bigger brother was not repeated: only 253 Poker 126 were sold.

The Scout 127 suited the Greek market of its day: it could serve as a commercial vehicle as much as a passenger car, it passed for a fashionable fun car – and above all Greek law classed such vehicles as commercial vehicles, which made them cheaper to own. As demand grew, the company built a larger factory at Thiva in 1978; local content rose gradually to nearly 50 per cent. The Scout, by then renamed Amico 127, was reworked several times and offered as a van as well. A. Ellados also assembled other models, among them the Fiat 238 and 900T vans.

By 1984 the market for such dual-purpose vehicles had collapsed: a change in Greek law was often read in a way that allowed large luxury off-roaders to be classed as trucks too. For most Greek makers of this kind of vehicle that was the end, A. Ellados among them. The company ceased operations after 6,620 vehicles in all had been built – the great majority, 6,021 of them, Scout or Amico 127. Its plant was taken over in 1988 by Automeccanica, founded in 1979 by former A. Ellados executives.