Automobile industry of the Soviet Union
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The automobile industry in the Soviet Union is unique amongst automobile industries in the world. Until the October Revolution, very few Russians could afford cars - the only (if few) cars that were around were imported into Russia from other countries, and even then the Czar and his family owned most of them. After the October Revolution, as part of the five year plans, the Kremlin felt a need for creating an indigenous automobile industry in the Soviet Union. The oldest Soviet automaker, however, was created in an unconventional way - GAZ (Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, "Gorky Automobile Factory") was originally developed with the assistance of Ford [1] because the Soviet Union lacked experience in creating a national automobile industry. Slowly, but surely, other automobile companies were created by the Kremlin, mostly to cater to certain aspects of the industry. Since the economy was centrally planned, there was virtually no competition, except by cars from other countries in the COMECON. The following list states how, by the early 1980s, the Soviet automobile companies were positioned:
- AvtoZAZ (aka ZAZ): Originally designed to be a Soviet Volkswagen, thus their cars were very basic
- AvtoVAZ (aka VAZ, Lada): The most popular car (known in Russia as the Zhiguli), it was originally a licence-built copy of the Fiat 124, a mainstream brand; also manufacturing (pre-1991) the Lada Samara compact car, the Lada Niva SUV, the Lada Oka city car, as well as export modifications (Lada Riva).
- AZLK (aka Moskvitch): originally part of GAZ, a mainstream brand
- GAZ (aka GAZ): the Russian "Mercedes-Benz"
- ZIL: the official limousine of the Soviet Union
- UAZ: maker of the Red Army's jeeps
- LuAZ: maker of small-displacement jeeps
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.
