Portaro

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, sales were instant as there was no other new domestic rival at the time, save for the Landrover. 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.

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.