Automotive industry in the Soviet Union

The automotive industry in the Soviet Union spanned the history of the state from 1929 to 1991. It started with the establishment of large car manufacturing plants and reorganisation of the AMO Factory in Moscow in the late 1920s–early 1930s, during the first five-year plan, and continued until the Soviet Union's dissolution in 1991.

Before its dissolution, the Soviet Union produced 2.1-2.3 million units per year of all types, and was the sixth (previously fifth) largest automotive producer, ranking ninth place in cars, third in trucks, and first in buses.

Soviet industry exported 300,000-400,000 cars annually, mainly to Soviet Union satellite countries, but also to North America, Central and Western Europe, and Latin America.

There were substantial numbers of highway trucks (Volvo, MAN from capitalist countries; LIAZ, Csepel and IFA from socialist countries) in some quantities, construction trucks (Magirus-Deutz, Tatra), delivery trucks (Robur and Avia) and urban, intercity and tourist buses (Ikarus, Karosa) imported as well.

History

Early Soviet period

Russia had no automotive industry prior to the Soviet era. Automobiles were manufactured, but only in small quantity and by importing the main components from abroad.[1]

After the 1917 October Revolution, Russo-Balt was nationalised on August 15, 1918, and renamed to Prombron by the new leadership. It continued the production of Russo-Balt cars and launched a new model on October 8, 1922, while AMO built FIAT 15 Ter trucks under licence and released a more modern FIAT-derived truck developed by a team of AMO designers, the AMO-F-15. About 6,000–6,500 F-15s were built in the years 1924–1931.[2][3]

A Citroën

Private ownership

There were queues for the purchase of cars and many domestic buyers often had to wait years for a new car. In the 1970s, passenger cars made by VAZ (Lada) and GAZ (Volga) were the most in demand. Volgas were the most prestigious vehicles sold to private buyers, although up to 60% of the production was reserved for state and party institutions. Always popular and available for sale were Moskvitch and Zaporozhets cars, as well as compact four-wheel-drive LuAZ vehicles. All-terrain cars made by UAZ were not available privately, but could be bought decommissioned. Limousine brands Chaika (GAZ factory) and ZIL were not available for the general public.

List of manufacturers

The bulk of the automotive industry of the Soviet Union, with annual production approaching 1.8 million units, was located in Russian SFSR. Ukrainian SSR was second, at more than 200,000 units per year, Byelorussian SSR was third at 40,000. Other Soviet republics (SSRs) did not have significant automotive industries. Only the first two republics produced all types of automobiles.

With the exception of ZAZ and LuAZ, which were located in the Ukrainian SSR, all the aforementioned companies were located in the RSFSR. Besides the RSFSR, some truck plants were established in Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Georgian, Armenian, and Kyrghizian SSRs while buses were produced in the Ukrainian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Tajik republics.

Armenian SSR

ErAZ (1964–2002) produced RAF-based panel vans and minibuses.

Azerbaijan SSR

BakAZ (1978–1993) produced PAZ

External links

The Soviet Motor Vehicle Industry - 1986 CIA report

References

Automotive Industry CIA, retrieved 22 December 2017^
The AMO, known and unknown^
Oldtimer picture gallery. The AMO-F-15^

1960s and 1970s

In the 1960s the Soviets sought to diversify and broaden the motor vehicle industry but continued to rely on massive vertically integrated facilities. Their 15-year transportation modernization plan announced in 1965 called for increasing production of automobiles and heavy trucks to boost consumer welfare and create a larger and more balanced truck fleet.[7]

At the beginning of the 1960s, when MZMA, GAZ and ZAZ were offering a variety of cars and personal automobile ownership in the Soviet Union was on the rise, the Soviet government opted to build an even larger car manufacturing plant that would produce a people's car and help to meet the demand for personal transport.[12] For reasons of cost-efficiency, it was decided to sign a licence agreement with a foreign company and produce the car on the basis of an existing, modern model. Several options were considered, including Volkswagen, Ford, Peugeot, Renault and FIAT. The Fiat 124 was chosen because of its simple and sturdy design, being easy to manufacture and repair. The plant was built in just 4 years (1966–1970) in the small town of Stavropol Volzhsky, which later grew to a population of more than half a million and was renamed Togliatti to commemorate Palmiro Togliatti, the long time head of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), who died shortly before construction of the plant began.[12][13]

At the same time, the Izhmash car plant was established in the city of Izhevsk as part of the Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, with the initiative coming from the Minister of Defence Dmitriy Ustinov[14] and in order to increase the overall production of cars in the Soviet Union. It produced Moskvitchs and Moskvitch-based kombi hatchbacks.

By 1970, the manufacture of trucks and other commercial vehicles was decentralized and these were made not only in Moscow and Gorky but also in Belarus (Minsk, Zhodino), Ukraine (Kremenchug), Georgia (Kutaisi), and in the Volga and Ural regions (Ulyanovsk and Miass). The manufacture of automobiles was confined exclusively to Moscow, Gorky, and Izhevsk (Ural region) until the late 1960s.[6]

From 1970 to 1979, automobile production grew by nearly 1 million units per year, and truck production grew by 250,000 per year. The production ratio of automobiles to trucks increased in that time from 0.7 to 1.7, indicating that more attention was being given to the consumer market.[15]

The Soviets reportedly allocated one-half of the estimated 7 billion rubles invested in the automotive industry during 1971-75 to the construction of the Volga car and Kama truck plants. As the 15-year plan was drawing to a close, the Soviets modified their traditional approach of simply building additional plants to raise output. Soviet officials publicly acknowledged the need for continued growth in vehicle production, but they stressed the need for greater productivity and new vehicle designs to improve performance, utility and operating efficiency.[7]

Russian SFSR

Amur (1967-2012, until 2004 UAMZ)

AvtoKuban (1962-2001) manufactured small buses

AvtoVAZ (aka Lada, 1966–present) produced up to 800,000 cars annually;[20] created in cooperation with Fiat, it started with the production of the Zhiguli brand, which started as licensed and upgraded variants of the Fiat 124 or Fiat-derived models and later developed cars entirely of its own design, such as the VAZ-2108/2109/21099, the VAZ-2121, and the VAZ-1111.

AZLK (Moskvitch, 1929-2001, closed in 2010), originally part of GAZ, built durable and easily repairable cars of similar class as VAZ and of its own design (since 1956), but in a significantly smaller numbers (up to 200,000). All of its cars produced between 1946 and 2001 were known under the name Moskvitch.

BAZ (1958–present) manufactured military superheavy trucks.

GAZ (Volga, 1932–present) produced light trucks, Volga business-class sedans, which were also used as taxi cabs, and luxury automobiles such as the Chaika for Soviet officials (up to 100,000 cars annually).

IzhAvto (1967–present, the assembly plant AvtoVAZ since 2012), another manufacturer of Moskvitch small family cars and pickups often used by delivery services (produced up to 200,000 annually).

KamAZ (1969–present) manufactured heavy 6×4 trucks.

KAvZ (1958–present) produced conventional small buses on the basis of GAZ trucks, used as company vehicles and for passenger transport in the countryside on roads of poor quality.

KZKT (1950–2011) manufactured superheavy trucks on MAZ chassis

LiAZ (1937–present) (not to be confused with the Czechoslovak brand trucks LIAZ) manufactured large city buses.

NefAZ (1972–present) produced KaMAZ vehicles. Since 2000, it also builds large city buses based on KaMAZ chassis.

PAZ (1932–present) manufactured small buses

Prombron (1922–1926), which had acquired control over the former Russo-Balt factory in Fili, produced a small number of modernised Russo-Balt S24 cars. Two of them took part in the All-Russian test run of 1923.

SMZ, later SeAZ (1939–present, car production stopped in 2008), built cyclecars for the disabled. SMZ cars were distributed in the USSR for free or purchased at a large discount through the Soviet Union's social welfare system.

UAZ (1941–present) produced light four-wheel-drive vehicles for either military or agricultural use.

UralAZ (1941–present) manufactured general purpose off-road 6x6 trucks for use in the Soviet Army.

ZiL (former ZiS and AMO, 1916–2016) built middle trucks, luxury sedans and limousines used as official state cars.

ZMA (1987–present) produced Oka cars

Automotive industry in the Soviet Union

History

Early Soviet period

Private ownership

List of manufacturers

Armenian SSR

Azerbaijan SSR

See also

External links

References

Postwar period

1960s and 1970s

1980s

Post-1991

Byelorussian SSR

Estonian SSR

Georgian SSR

Kirghiz SSR

Latvian SSR

Lithuanian SSR

Russian SFSR

Tajik SSR

Ukrainian SSR