New subsidiary companies
Dedicated to light sports cars and motorsport cars
SOFIA - Société Orientale de Fabrication Industrialisée d'Automobile
With decolonisation, selling “Coloniales” vehicle to the emerging markets of Archana and Africa wasn’t an option anymore.
What’s more, the SARA factories set up in the (now former) french colonies had all been seized by the new governments.
Having assets seized by governments was business as usual for SARA, though, and Jeanneret quickly used his easter-block relations - and their need for occidental technology - to build a joint-venture with the Bulgarian government, one of the more “open” countries of the COMECON.
In less than a year, a brand new company was built in the suburbs of Sofia, Bulgary’s capital, smartly called the SOFIA.
It would be dedicated to the Low Compression variants of SARA engines, as well as rugged, inexpensive versions to be sold in eastern block / emerging countries markets.