The FSC Lublin Automotive Factory ( pl, Fabryka Samochodów Ciężarowych) commonly known as FSC, is a large

motor vehicle A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...

factory in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

established while the country was part of the

Soviet Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

. It was founded in 1950. The first vehicle left its assembly line on November 7, 1951. The factory was built on an open field in

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

from the grounds up, to first produce light trucks and later vans, as well as vehicles for the military.

History

After the 1989 collapse of the communist system in Poland, and the establishment of a free market economy, the state-owned FSC factory began to establish links with companies outside Poland. In 1995 the factory entered a joint venture with the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n conglomerate

Daewoo Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

. It soon become a part of the new company

Daewoo Motor Polska Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomerat ...

. In December 1995 the factory started assembling

Daewoo Nexia Daewoo ( ; Hangul: , Hanja: , ; literally "great universe" and a portmanteau of "dae" meaning great, and the given name of founder and chairman Kim Woo-choong) also known as the Daewoo Group, was a major South Korean chaebol (type of conglomera ...

passenger cars. Around 40,000 were produced before production ended in 1998. Daewoo also began a joint project with British manufacturer LDV to develop a new van. Daewoo also produced the

van and the Honker military vehicle. Daewoo experienced serious financial problems following the financial crisis in Asia, which brought serious difficulties to the Lublin factory. Daewoo Motor Polska entered bankruptcy in October 2001 and all production in the Lublin factory came to a halt. LDV bought Daewoo's share in the van project and moved the tooling to its factory in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, putting it into production in 2005 as the

Maxus SAIC Maxus Automotive Co., Ltd. trading as Maxus and sometimes known by the pinyin transcription of its Chinese name, Datong (大通) is a Chinese vehicle brand. Currently, it is a commercial and passenger vehicle manufacturer being a wholly ...

. In 2003, the FSC factory was bought by Intrall, a British investment group, and production of the Lublin van resumed.

Current product

* Lublin van/Honker Cargo (1993–2007, 2011–2016)

Former products

From 1963 to 1970 the company manufactured (together with a factory in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

) the

armoured personnel carrier An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world. Acc ...

OT-64 SKOT The OT-64 SKOT (Czech acronym for: ''Střední Kolový Obrněný Transportér'', and/or Polish Średni ''Kołowy Opancerzony Transporter'' – medium wheeled armoured transporter) is an amphibious, armored personnel carrier (8x8), developed join ...

. Around 4,500 were produced for the Polish and Czechoslovak armies as well as export customers. Some of the vehicles produced at the factory: * FSC Lublin-51 (1951–1959) *

FSC Żuk The Żuk ( pl. ''beetle'') was a van and light truck produced in Lublin, Poland, between 1958 and 1998 by FSC. It was based on FSO Warszawa, which in turn was licensed from the Soviet passenger car GAZ-M20 Pobeda. The chassis, suspension and ...

(1959–1998) * Lubo (2006 prototype) *

Peugeot 405 The Peugeot 405 is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987, and which continues to be manufactured under licence outside France, having been discontinued in Europe in 1997. It was voted European Car of the Year for ...

(1993-1995) *

(1995–1998) * Honker 4×4 (1996–2016)

Notes and references

External links

Official page FS Honker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabryka Samochodow Ciezarowych Car manufacturers of Poland 1950 establishments in Poland Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1950 Truck manufacturers of Poland Defunct manufacturing companies of Poland