It was founded in 1977 with the purpose of manufacturing four-wheel drive vehicles for agricultural, industrial and utility applications.

SIMI had produced the Cournil, a rugged two seater boxy looking Land Rover type of vehicle made with Hotchkiss-JEEP parts with Ferguson Diesel tractor allwheel driven mechanicals itself was originally designed and built by mechanical engineer Bernard Cournil.

The Cournil Entrepreneur's building rights were acquired in the 1970s by the Portuguese company União Metalo-Mecânica, part of the Mocar group and were renamed as UMM.

Many UMMs are still in use by utilities in Spain, Portugal, Cape Verde (in use by the national army) and France and also by the "Guarda Nacional Republicana" (Portuguese Gendarmerie), fire service and military, although the majority of their customers were private individuals.

[citation needed] The most famous UMM is probably the one that transported Pope John Paul II in one of his visits to Portugal.