The full name of Tomos, a scooters, motorbikes and mopeds brand, is Tovarna Motornih Vozil, Koper (Triëst). Originally, Tomos is a Yougoslavian (Slovanian) brand that started producing Puch mopeds (licensed) and leight motorbikes for the foreign markets under it's own brandname.
It was only in 1958 taht Tomos built it's very own prouct: a stationary engine for various applications. In 1960 the first Tomos mopeds were imported into the Netherlands by NV Vedezo (which became Tomos Netherlands at a later stage).
In 1962 Tomos released a 90 cc-model. Starting in 1966, Tomos Netherlands from Epe also started producing mopeds. Next was a plant in the United States. Especially the Tomos 4L produced in Epe (due to the confusing logo called 4TL) with a 4 gear footclutch was extremely popular. It was produced form 1969 until early eighties.
In 1972 Tomos released an automatic moped. During it's existance, Tomos has been producing all sorts of products: trialbikes, crossmotorbikes and regular motorbikes. The Sloveniam company seized it's production in Epe in December 2009.
The Tomos mopeds as we know them are derived from Puch mopeds. Tomos started producing Puch mopeds in the late fifties and early sixties. Due to a technicality in the contract, Tomos could start exporting the Puch mopeds after the five year contract with Puch and could hence compete directly with Puch on the European markets. Stokvis (distributor of Puch) was all but pleased with this and started a rumour that a Tomos moped was a copy of a Puch moped but with a much lower quality level. A lot of people instantly believed it and that is the reason why there was a certain rivalry between Puch and Tomos moped riders.
This rivalry only exists in the Netherlands. Between the factories of Tomos in Koper and the factories of Puch in Graz there never was any rivalry. In fact, even after the license period ended, some parts of either brand were produced at both plants.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia