GAZ or Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (russian: ГАЗ or Го́рьковский автомоби́льный заво́д, , Gorky Automobile Plant) is a Russian automotive manufacturer located in
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
, formerly known as Gorky (Горький) (1932–1990). It is the core subsidiary of
GAZ Group
GAZ Group (russian: Группа ГАЗ) is a Russian automotive conglomerate headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod. It comprises 18 manufacturing facilities in eight regions of Russia, as well as sales and service organizations.
GAZ Group is the lea ...
Holding, which is itself part of
Basic Element industrial group.
JSC Russian Machines
Russian Machines (russian: Русские машины, /Russkie mashiny/) is a Russian conglomerate that consists of industrial and engineering divisions. The group currently operates 27 plants throughout 12 regions in Russia and produces mechan ...
is the controlling shareholder in OAO GAZ.
History
Early history
In May 1929 the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
signed an agreement with the American
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
.
[Odin, L.C. ''World in Motion 1939 - The whole of the year's automobile production''. Belvedere Publishing, 2015. ASIN: B00ZLN91ZG.] Under its terms, the Soviets agreed to purchase $13 million worth of automobiles and parts, while Ford agreed to give technical assistance until 1938 to construct an integrated automobile-manufacturing plant at
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
. The factory was founded and production started on 1 January 1932. At the time the factory was known as Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant, short NAZ (''Nizhegorodskiy Avtomobilny Zavod''), full name Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant named after V. M. Molotov (''Nizhegorodskiy Avtomobilny Zavod imeni V. M. Molotova''), after the Soviet minister
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov. ; (;. 9 March Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O._S._25_February.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O. S. 25 February">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dat ...
. In 1932 the plant produced its first automobiles,
GAZ-AA
The GAZ-AA was a truck produced at the Gorki Auto Plant from 1932 to 1938, as the company's first truck produced under the ''GAZ'' brand name.
History
In 1929 the Soviet Union made an agreement with the Ford Motor Company to produce the Ford ...
(originally known as NAZ-AA, as they were manufactured before Nizhny Novgorod became Gorky) truck and
GAZ-A
The GAZ-A is a passenger car that was mass-produced by GAZ from 1932 until 1936. It was the first passenger car to be produced in the Soviet Union and is a near-exact copy of the Ford Model A from 1930. To the local population, the car was nicknam ...
passenger car (manufactured after Nizhny Novgorod became Gorky). The cars were based on the
Ford Model AA
Ford Model AA is a truck from Ford. As the Model T and TT became obsolete and needed to be replaced, Henry Ford began initial designs on the Model A and Model AA in 1926. Basic chassis layout was done rapidly and mechanical development wa ...
and
Ford Model A, respectively.
In 1933, the factory's name changed to ''Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod'', or GAZ, when the city was renamed after
Maxim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...
.
The
GAZ-A
The GAZ-A is a passenger car that was mass-produced by GAZ from 1932 until 1936. It was the first passenger car to be produced in the Soviet Union and is a near-exact copy of the Ford Model A from 1930. To the local population, the car was nicknam ...
was succeeded by the more modern
GAZ-M1
The GAZ M1 (“Эмка“/”Emka”) was a passenger car produced by the Soviet automaker GAZ between 1936 and 1943, at their plant in Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia).
Systematic production ended in 1941, but the factory was able to con ...
(based largely on the four-cylinder version of the
Ford Model B), produced from 1936 to 1942. The M letter stands for ''Molotovets'' ('of Molotov's fame'), it was the origin of the car's nickname, ''M'ka'' (Эмка).
During the war, GAZ assembled
Chevrolet G7107
The G-506 trucks, -ton, 4x4, produced as the Chevrolet G7100 (and originally G4100) models, were a series of (light) medium four wheel drive trucks used by the United States Army and its allies during and after World War II. This series came in s ...
and G7117 (G7107 with winch) from parts shipped from the USA under
Lend Lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
.
Postwar period
![GAZ-14 Tschaika Potsdam 2013 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/GAZ-14_Tschaika_Potsdam_2013_%28cropped%29.JPG)
At that time, GAZ engineers worked to develop an all-new car model to enter production once hostilities ended. Called the
GAZ-M20 Pobeda
The GAZ-M20 "Pobeda" (russian: ГАЗ-М20 Победа; ''победа'' means ''victory'') was a passenger car produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ from 1946 until 1958. It was also licensed to the Polish Passenger Automobile Factory and produ ...
(Victory), this affordably-priced sedan with streamlined, fastback styling, entered production in 1946 and was produced by GAZ until 1958. (Licensed production under the name
Warszawa
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
continued in
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
FSO until the 1970s). It was the first Soviet car with electric
windshield wiper
A windscreen wiper, windshield wiper, wiper blade (American English), or simply wiper, is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or debris from a vehicle's front window. Almost all motor vehicles, including cars, tru ...
s (rather than mechanical- or vacuum-operated ones).
GAZ also made
GAZ-12 ZIM
The ZIM-12 (russian: ЗИМ-12) was a Soviet full-size luxury car produced by the Gorky Automotive Plant (GAZ) from 1950 until 1960. It was the first executive car produced by GAZ and the first one to have the famous leaping gazelle hood ornamen ...
,
GAZ-21
The GAZ M21 Volga is an automobile produced in the Soviet Union by GAZ (Gorkovsky Avtomobilniy Zavod, in English "Gorky automobile factory") from 1956 to 1970. The first car to carry the Volga name, it was developed in the early 1950s. Volgas ...
and
GAZ-24
The GAZ-24 "Volga" is a car manufactured by the Gorky Automobile Plant (Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, GAZ) from 1970 to 1985 as a generation of its Volga marque. A largely redesigned version (practically, a new car in a modified old body) – G ...
Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...
and the luxury cars GAZ-13 and GAZ-14
Chaika. The ZIM was the first GAZ car to feature the leaping deer
hood ornament
A hood ornament (or bonnet ornament in Commonwealth English), also called, motor mascot, or car mascot is a specially crafted model which symbolizes a car company like a badge, located on the front center portion of the hood. It has been used ...
. The GAZ-21 made its public debut in 1955, with a three cars on a demonstration drive from Moscow to the Crimea, two automatic models and a manual.
[Thompson, p. 61] It was launched in 1956 and became a symbol of the whole Soviet epoch. The car offered front seats able to fold flat
and came standard with cigarette lighter and a radio at a time when most American-built cars did not have a radio. A small number of Volgas with the Chaika engine,
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...
, and
power steering were built for the
KGB
The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
as the
M23, 603 were built in 1962–1970.
[Thompson, pp. 120–121] As the car's leading engineer Boris Dekhtyar recalled, the new version of the Volga had improved brake pads and reached a higher top speed of over 170 km/h; it was well received. The new engine produced 195 h.p. at 4,400 rpm.
In the 1960s GAZ plant renewed its truck range by launching such models as GAZ-52,
GAZ-53
The GAZ-53 is a 3.5 tonne 4x2 truck produced by GAZ between 1961 and 1993. Introduced first as GAZ-53F, it was joined by the virtually identical 2.5-ton GAZ-52 in 1962, which was produced until 1989.
The GAZ-52 and GAZ-53 trucks are distingui ...
А and
GAZ-66
The GAZ-66 is a Soviet and later Russian 4x4 all-road (off-road) military truck produced by GAZ. It was one of the main cargo vehicles for motorized infantry of the Soviet Army and is still employed in former Soviet Union countries. It is nick ...
. In the 1960s and 1970s, the plant was overhauled and updated; 1962 saw it fitted with the Soviet Union's first automated precision shop. In 1994 the plant started production of
GAZelle
A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...
light commercial vehicles.
The plant became ''AvtoGAZ'', with the integration of its various
subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract.
Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...
s, on 24 August 1971; the same year, it was awarded the
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...
. GAZ produced its ten millionth vehicle in March 1981. In the late 1990s GAZ was deemed to be the best managed Russian automotive manufacturer.
SibAl takeover
![Volga Siber front Moscow autoshow 2008 26 08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Volga_Siber_front_Moscow_autoshow_2008_26_08.jpg)
In November 2000 GAZ was acquired in a hostile takeover by
SibAl.
In March 2003 GAZ declared that the production of passenger cars was no longer a priority for the company, and plans to release a new GAZ-3115 model had been abandoned.
In 2006, GAZ made a move on the
LDV company based in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England, and acquired the van maker from the venture capital group Sun European Partners, LLP in July of that year. GAZ said that they planned to market the MAXUS (
LDV's new Panel-van that was released in January 2005) into the rest of Europe and Asia. GAZ proposed to increase production in the LDV plant in England, while also commencing production of the MAXUS in a new plant in Russia. However, due to the recession, the production at the LDV plant was halted and the plant was sold to a Chinese company called ECO Concept in 2009.
As then
DaimlerChrysler
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
modernized its
Sterling Heights Assembly
The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (abbrevriated SHAP), is a automotive manufacturing factory in Sterling Heights, Michigan currently operated by Stellantis North America.[Chrysler Sebring
The Chrysler Sebring ( ) is a line of mid-size automobiles that was sold from 1995 through 2010 by Chrysler. Three generations of convertibles, two generations of sedans, and two generations of coupes were produced. Although the coupe shared the ...]
/
Dodge Stratus
The Dodge Stratus is a mid-size car that was introduced by Dodge in December 1994 and was based on the 4-door sedan Chrysler JA platform. The Stratus, Plymouth Breeze, and Chrysler Cirrus were all on ''Car and Driver'' magazine's Ten Best li ...
assembly line and tooling was sold to GAZ and was shipped to
Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...
in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. Since then GAZ car facility is used for contract manufacturing for
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...
and
General Motors.
Andersson leadership
![GAZ GAZon Next flatbed truck (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/GAZ_GAZon_Next_flatbed_truck_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In 2009,
Bo Andersson, former Vice-President of
General Motors, was invited to become a President/CEO of GAZ Group.
In 2010, GAZ upgraded its model range by launching new GAZelle-BUSINESS lineup with diesel and petrol engines and LPG equipment.
In November 2010 the company decided to end production of the
Volga Siber
The GAZ Volga Siber (russian: Волга Сайбер) is a four-door sedan manufactured by the Russian firm GAZ, introduced at the 2007 Moscow International Automobile Salon and marketed in a single generation for model years 2008 to 2010.
M ...
, its last GAZ passenger car model, and to discontinue the
GAZ Volga
The Volga (russian: Волга) is an executive car that originated in the Soviet Union to replace the GAZ Pobeda in 1956. Their role in serving the Soviet nomenklatura made them a contemporary cultural icon. Several generations of the car have b ...
range. In December 2010, GAZ Group signed a memorandum of understanding with
Daimler on contract manufacturing of
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle (van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dod ...
at GAZ plant in Nizhny Novgorod. It is expected that production will start in 2013.
In February 2011,
General Motors and GAZ Group signed an agreement on contract assembly of the new
Chevrolet Aveo
The Chevrolet Aveo ( ) is a subcompact car (B-segment) marketed by General Motors since 2002. Originally marketed as the Daewoo Kalos, takeover of Daewoo Motors by General Motors (GM) also saw the car being marketed under seven brands (Chevrolet, ...
car at GAZ plant in Nizhny Novgorod. As of December 2012, production was underway with an expected annual production of 30,000 vehicles.
In June 2011,
Volkswagen Group Rus
OOO Volkswagen Group Rus (russian: Фольксваген Груп Рус) was a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, which grew from an investment agreement signed on 29 May 2006. Its main factory was in Kaluga, approximately southwest of Moscow.
Hist ...
and GAZ Group signed a long-term agreement on contract manufacturing at GAZ plant with total investment of €200 million. It is planned to produce
Škoda Yeti
The Škoda Yeti (codenamed ''Typ'' 5L)ETKA, accessed 27 January 2010 is a compact crossover SUV produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto and introduced at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show, as the carmaker's first entry into the SUV market. In ...
, the new
Volkswagen Jetta
The Volkswagen Jetta () is a compact car/ small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen since 1979. Positioned to fill a sedan niche above the firm's Golf hatchback, it has been marketed over seven generations, variously as the A ...
and
Škoda Octavia
The Škoda Octavia is a small family car produced by the Czech car manufacturer Škoda Auto since the end of 1996. It shares its name with an earlier model produced between 1959 and 1971. Four generations of the modern-era Octavia model have ...
. The total production volume in the peak years will be about 110,000 vehicles. In November 2011, under the contract manufacturing agreement, GAZ started SKD assembly of Škoda Yeti; full-cycle production started in December 2012.
Recent developments
In April 2019, GAZ asked for a $468 million
bailout
A bailout is the provision of financial help to a corporation or country which otherwise would be on the brink of bankruptcy.
A bailout differs from the term ''bail-in'' (coined in 2010) under which the bondholders or depositors of global sys ...
from the Russian government, saying that US sanctions on
Oleg Deripaska and his assets put the company at risk of default. On July 4, 2019, workers from GAZ protested against the US sanctions in front of the US embassy in Moscow as an opposition to measures they claim will lead to the bankruptcy of the company.
In November 2021, "GAZ Group" announced that its division, "Silovye Agregaty", would be ready for mass production of hydrogen engines in 2,5 years.
See also
*
List of GAZ vehicles
*
Automobile model numbering system in the Soviet Union and Russia
*
History of Ford Motor Company
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as wel ...
References
External links
Official site of the plantGAZ official website
GAZ official website
GAZ automotive history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaz
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1932
Russian brands
Truck manufacturers of Russia
Car manufacturers of Russia
Truck manufacturers of the Soviet Union
Defence companies of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union–United States relations
Car brands
Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Nizhniy Novgorod
Russian entities subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions