Hipólito Pires is a Portuguese

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

and co-founder of

Portaro Portaro was the name of a Portugal, 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 Por ...

, along with José Megre in 1975. Pires and José Megre became business partners when they decided to create a motor vehicle assembly production line, under the name "Projecto Portaro." Large loans of Portuguese-state funds were granted to start this joint-venture automobile plan. Initially the GV-Garagem Vitoria, one of the main domestic Motor Car importers, were to collect and receive the ARO vehicles from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

at the docks in CKD form. The cars were then transported to the final production facility in Setubal. Here several 4X4 prototype models were built in 1975, all with different running gear fitted for testing in all kinds of environment and treatment. Soon enough, Pires went to Japan in search for a well-known manufacturer and supplier of modern running gear, but only Daihatsu Motor Company of

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

agreed to help him out and negotiations started. Not long after, the Brandname of PORTARO 4WD vehicles were launched after their vehicles were involved in off-road trials and other successful evaluations. The motor vehicle production was officially started by the recently formed SEMAL company.

References

Living people 21st-century Portuguese businesspeople Year of birth missing (living people) {{Portugal-business-bio-stub