Tovarna avtomobilov Maribor

TAM

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Former type	Public
Industry	Automotive
Fate	Bankruptcy
Founded	1947
Defunct	2011
Headquarters	Maribor, Slovenia
Key people	Janez Lipuš, Chairman
Products	Buses, Trucks
Number of employees	8,175 (1986)

TAM (Tovarna avtomobilov Maribor – translated: Maribor Automobile Factory) was a Yugoslavian and Slovenian commercial vehicle manufacturer based in the city of Maribor.

History

TAM began as an aircraft-parts factory founded by the occupying Germans in 1941. Immediately following World War II, the Yugoslav government decided to convert the works to vehicle production and renamed it the Tovarna avtomobilov Maribor Tezno, "Maribor Tezno Automobile Factory" on December 31, 1946. TAM's first model, the "TAM Pionir," was built under license from the Czechoslovak company "Praga," and was manufactured until 1962, with a total of 1700 produced in that period. TAM quickly became Yugoslavia's leading truck manufacturer. In 1958, it began manufacturing vehicles under license from the German company Magirus-Deutz. In 1961, the company was renamed to Tovarna Avtomobilov in Motorjev Maribor ("Maribor Automobile and Motorcycle Factory"), however the TAM acronym and logo were retained. At its height, it employed more than 8000 workers; however, the economic decline of the 1980s saw financial difficulties, and in 1996 the company was dissolved.

TAM was succeed by TVM (Tovarna vozil Maribor – translated: Maribor Vehicle Factory) in 2001, producing MAN trucks under license primarily for the Slovenian Army. The company ended in bankruptcy in 2011 with debts totaling over €62 million.

Logo

The TAM logo resembled a three-leafed clover standing on point, with each lobe containing one letter of the acronym and a small five-pointed star occupying the center.

Number of vehicles produced annually

File:Tam gasilec.JPG

TAM 125 T10 fire truck

File:TAM kamion HV Tigrovi.jpg

TAM 150 military transport truck

Year	Nr.of prod.vehicles
1947	27
1948	113
1949	288
1950	446
1951	787
1952	716
1953	1389
1954	1659
1955	1966
1956	2310
1957	2749
1958	2526
1959	2605
1960	2777
1961	2838
1962	3013
1963	3508
1964	3872
1965	3943
1966	4085
1967	4764
1968	5513
1969	5621
1970	6442

TAM vehicle naming convention

TAM trucks were assigned a string of three variables, number-letter-number; for example, model 190 T 11.

• The first number represents engine power (in hp).
• The letter T stands for the Slovenian word "tovornjak" (truck).
• The second number (11) represents the maximum payload (in tons).

TAM buses were assigned a string of four variables, number-letter-number-letter, for example: 260 A 116 M.

• The first number represents engine power.
• The letter A stands for the word "avtobus" (bus).
• The second number represents the maximum number of passengers.
• The second letter could be either M, P, or T, for "mestni" (city bus), "primestni" (suburban bus), or "turistični" (tourist bus).

External links

• TAM Durabus official site