Automobile industry of the Soviet Union
Encyclopedia
The automobile industry in the Soviet Union was unique. While being an extremely advanced country in aerospace and rocket engineering, USSR was never advanced in manufacturing car
s or truck
s.
(Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, "Gorky Automobile Factory") was established under a collaboration agreed in 1929 with Ford
- a very wise move on the part of the Soviet leadership because at the time Ford was the largest automobile company in the world with Model T comprising over 90% of the world's car fleet.
A year later, Ford built the second automobile plant, AZLK
, in Moscow.
At the beginning of 1960s it became clear that Soviet industry could develop and start production of a decent car for the masses. The Soviet leadership again turned to the West seeking technical assistance. Several options were considered - Volkswagen
, Ford, etc. FIAT
was chosen because at the time Italian communists were gaining power in Italy and it was a good chance for the USSR to show support. The plant was built in just 6 years in a small town of Stavropol Volzhsky, which was later renamed Togliatti to commemorate Palmiro Togliatti
, an Italian communist leader who died two years prior while visiting a children's summer camp in Ukraine.
By the early 1980s Soviet automobile industry consisted of several plants which produced cars for various market segments:
With the exception of ZAZ and LuAZ, which were located in the Ukrainian SSR
, all the abovementioned companies were located in the Russian SFSR.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
in 1991, it became hard for Russian/Ukrainian automakers to thrive. Some automakers, like AvtoVAZ
, have turned to collaborations with other companies (such as GM-AvtoVAZ
) in order to keep the factories running. Others, like AZLK, have become dormant, while still others still build the old Soviet-era models. Then there are special cases, like ZAZ
, which have transformed themselves into new companies - in ZAZ's case they are now known as UkrAVTO.
Čar
Čar is a village in the municipality of Bujanovac, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the town has a population of 296 people.-References:...
s or truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
s.
History
The oldest Soviet automaker, GAZGAZ
GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod , translated as Gorky Automobile Plant , started in 1932 as NAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union. It is one of the largest companies in the Russian automotive industry....
(Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, "Gorky Automobile Factory") was established under a collaboration agreed in 1929 with Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
- a very wise move on the part of the Soviet leadership because at the time Ford was the largest automobile company in the world with Model T comprising over 90% of the world's car fleet.
A year later, Ford built the second automobile plant, AZLK
AZLK
AZLK was a Russian automobile factory , the maker of the Moskvitch brand....
, in Moscow.
At the beginning of 1960s it became clear that Soviet industry could develop and start production of a decent car for the masses. The Soviet leadership again turned to the West seeking technical assistance. Several options were considered - Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
, Ford, etc. FIAT
Fiat
FIAT, an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino , is an Italian automobile manufacturer, engine manufacturer, financial, and industrial group based in Turin in the Italian region of Piedmont. Fiat was founded in 1899 by a group of investors including Giovanni Agnelli...
was chosen because at the time Italian communists were gaining power in Italy and it was a good chance for the USSR to show support. The plant was built in just 6 years in a small town of Stavropol Volzhsky, which was later renamed Togliatti to commemorate Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Togliatti
Palmiro Togliatti was an Italian politician and leader of the Italian Communist Party from 1927 until his death.-Early life:...
, an Italian communist leader who died two years prior while visiting a children's summer camp in Ukraine.
By the early 1980s Soviet automobile industry consisted of several plants which produced cars for various market segments:
- ZAZZAZZAZ or Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant is the main automobile-manufacturer of Ukraine, based in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhia. It is also known for its former mother company name, AvtoZAZ...
- manufacturer of small cheap cars - VAZVazVaz also may refer to:*Vaz , people named Vaz*VAZ Plus, a Virtual Studio Technology and DirectX plugin that simulates a subtractive synthesizer...
(export brand LadaLadaLada is a trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. All AvtoVAZ vehicles are currently sold under the Lada brand, though this was not always so; Lada was originally AvtoVAZ's export brand for models it sold under the Zhiguli name in the domestic Soviet market...
): produced a licensed copy of Fiat 124Fiat 124The Fiat 124 is a mid-sized family car produced by the Italian manufacturer Fiat between 1966 and 1974. It was the replacement of the Fiat 1300 and Fiat 1500...
, '67 Car of the YearCar of the YearCar of the Year is a phrase usually considered to have been invented by Motor Trend magazine in the 1950s for their annual award for best American automobile...
and other models based on it. - AZLKAZLKAZLK was a Russian automobile factory , the maker of the Moskvitch brand....
(aka MoskvitchMoskvitchMoskvitch was an automobile brand from Russia produced by AZLK from 1945 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2002...
): originally part of GAZGAZGAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod , translated as Gorky Automobile Plant , started in 1932 as NAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union. It is one of the largest companies in the Russian automotive industry....
, was an official "competitor" of VAZ but produced slightly less advanced (but easier to service and repair) cars - GAZGAZGAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod , translated as Gorky Automobile Plant , started in 1932 as NAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union. It is one of the largest companies in the Russian automotive industry....
: produced business-class sedans for Soviet officials - ZILZavod Imeni LikhachevaZavod imeni Likhachova, more commonly called ZIL is a major Russian truck and heavy equipment manufacturer, which also produced armored cars for most Soviet leaders, as well as buses, armored fighting vehicles, and aerosani...
: manufacturer of limousineLimousineA limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
s for the Communist party elite - UAZUAZUAZ , Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod is an automobile manufacturer based in Ulyanovsk, Russia which manufactures off-road vehicles, buses and trucks. It is best known for its Model 469 jeep, which has seen wide use as a military vehicle in Russia and around the world...
: produced light four-wheel-drive vehicles for the army - LuAZLuAZLuAZ is a Ukrainian automobile manufacturer located in the city of Lutsk.-History:The original product of this relatively small plant is the "LuAZ"-branded off-road vehicle, sturdy and simple, but outdated...
: produced compact four-wheel-drive vehicles
With the exception of ZAZ and LuAZ, which were located in the Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
, all the abovementioned companies were located in the Russian SFSR.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the disintegration of the federal political structures and central government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , resulting in the independence of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union between March 11, 1990 and December 25, 1991...
in 1991, it became hard for Russian/Ukrainian automakers to thrive. Some automakers, like AvtoVAZ
AvtoVAZ
AvtoVAZ is the Russian automobile manufacturer formerly known as VAZ: Volzhsky Avtomobilny Zavod , but better known to the world under the trade name Lada. The company was established in the late 1960s in collaboration with Fiat...
, have turned to collaborations with other companies (such as GM-AvtoVAZ
GM-AvtoVAZ
GM-AvtoVAZ is a joint venture in Russia between General Motors and AvtoVAZ set up in 1999. It produces the GM-AvtoVAZ Chevrolet Niva, based on the Lada Niva, and the GM-AvtoVAZ Chevrolet Viva, based on the 1998 Opel Astra notchback....
) in order to keep the factories running. Others, like AZLK, have become dormant, while still others still build the old Soviet-era models. Then there are special cases, like ZAZ
ZAZ
ZAZ or Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant is the main automobile-manufacturer of Ukraine, based in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhia. It is also known for its former mother company name, AvtoZAZ...
, which have transformed themselves into new companies - in ZAZ's case they are now known as UkrAVTO.
Russia
- Avtotor
- AvtoVAZAvtoVAZAvtoVAZ is the Russian automobile manufacturer formerly known as VAZ: Volzhsky Avtomobilny Zavod , but better known to the world under the trade name Lada. The company was established in the late 1960s in collaboration with Fiat...
- AZLKAZLKAZLK was a Russian automobile factory , the maker of the Moskvitch brand....
- GAZGAZGAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod , translated as Gorky Automobile Plant , started in 1932 as NAZ, a cooperation between Ford and the Soviet Union. It is one of the largest companies in the Russian automotive industry....
- Izhmash
- KamazKamazKAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...
- KAvZKAvZKAvZ is a bus manufacturer in Kurgan, Russia. The factory started producing buses in 1958, based on trucks from GAZ. During the 1990s, it assembled Ikarus buses for the Russian market. Now a subsidiary of GAZ, it specialises in producing small buses, in particular school buses.-External links:* *...
- LiAZ
- MoskvitchMoskvitchMoskvitch was an automobile brand from Russia produced by AZLK from 1945 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2002...
- NefAZ
- PAZ
- SeAZSeAZSeAZ is a large engineering plant in Serpukhov, Russia. The company was founded on July 7, 1939 by order of the People's Commissar of General Engineering Industry and by the head of Glavmotoveloprom, concerning production of small capacity motorcycles...
- TagAZTagAZTagAZ is an automotive assembly plant located in Taganrog, Russia. Affiliated enterprises are the Rostov Truck Factory.- History :Construction of the Taganrog Automotive Plant began in Spring 1997, under license and technology of South Korean Daewoo Motors, and was fully financed by Doninvest...
- UAZUAZUAZ , Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod is an automobile manufacturer based in Ulyanovsk, Russia which manufactures off-road vehicles, buses and trucks. It is best known for its Model 469 jeep, which has seen wide use as a military vehicle in Russia and around the world...
- UralAZUral Automotive PlantThe Ural Automotive Plant is a major manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in Russia. It was established in 1941, when the ZiS factory was evacuated from Moscow during the World War II, and is now part of the GAZ group.-External links:* on GAZ website...
- ZiLZILZIL and similar may refer to:*Zil, a village in the Tabasaran rayon of Dagestan, Russia*Zil stands for Zulfikar Industries Pvt. Ltd. Pakistan, a Chemical factory in Pakistan producting soaps and related chemical products since 1976...
- ZiSZiSZiS may refer to:* Zavod imeni Likhacheva of Moscow, formerly Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod imeni Stalina, and its products:** ZiS-101 limousine** ZiS-110 limousine** ZiS-150...
- ZMAZMA (factory)ZMA is a Russian car maker located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Republic of Tatarstan. It produces Oka micro-car under VAZ license. Most of the stock was owned by KamAZ, until March 2005 when SeverstalAvto bought the factory...
Ukraine
- Anto-Rus
- Cherkasky AvtobusBogdan (bus)Bohdan is the brand of the Ukrainian buses and trolleybuses made by Bogdan Corporation. The original two front-engine/rear-wheel drive models are powered by Isuzu and marketed outside Ukraine under Isuzu brand. Large city buses, such as the rear-engined Bohdan A145 and Bohdan A1445, are also...
- BAZ
- ChAZChazChaz can refer to*Chaz, a nickname for Charles*Chaz, the off-white plasticine sidekick of the terracotta Morph from UK children's television*Chaz PsyKoticz, an American Professional Deathmatch Wrestler & DJ from Brooklyn, New York....
- Eurocar
- Etalon-Avto
- HalAZ
- KrASZ
- KrAZKrAZKrAZ is a factory that produces trucks and other special-purpose vehicles in Kremenchuk, Ukraine; particularly heavy-duty off-road models...
- LAZLviv Bus FactoryThe Lviv Automobile Factory, , mostly known under its obsolete name L’vivs’ky Avtobusnyi Zavod is a bus manufacturing company in Lviv, Ukraine...
- LuAZLuAZLuAZ is a Ukrainian automobile manufacturer located in the city of Lutsk.-History:The original product of this relatively small plant is the "LuAZ"-branded off-road vehicle, sturdy and simple, but outdated...
- ZAZZAZZAZ or Zaporizhia Automobile Building Plant is the main automobile-manufacturer of Ukraine, based in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhia. It is also known for its former mother company name, AvtoZAZ...