The Moskvitch was a 20th-century

Soviet 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, ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n passenger car. Between 1966 and 1990, the Balkan factory in Lovech, Bulgaria, assembled the Soviet-designed Moskvitch

408 __NOTOC__ Year 408 (Roman numerals, CDVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Philippus (or, less frequentl ...

(later replaced by the

412 __NOTOC__ Year 412 ( CDXII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known in Europe as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, yea ...

/1500 and

Aleko The Moskvitch-2141, also known under the trade name Aleko (Russian: "АЛЕКО", derivative from the name of the automaker "Автомобильный завод имени Ленинского Комсомола", ''Avtomobilny zavod imeni Leni ...

) from complete knock down (CKD) kits.

History

Beginnings

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During the fall of 1965, the

People's Republic of Bulgaria The People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB; bg, Народна Република България (НРБ), ''Narodna Republika Balgariya, NRB'') was the official name of Bulgaria, when it was a socialist republic from 1946 to 1990, ruled by the ...

and the USSR signed an economic cooperation agreement for the period of 1966–1970, which contained a provision that by the end of 1968, the Balkan factory in Lovech would be completely tooled for the assembly of 15,000 Moskvitch 408 passenger cars annually. In January 1966, a group of Bulgarian engineers were sent to the MZMA Moscow Factory, later renamed AZLK. Work began in July of that year.

Production

The first Moskvitch 408 left the production line in November 1966. In early 1967, the Bulgarian Council of Ministers issued an official decision to rename Factory 14 to Factory for Passenger Cars Balkan. It was also decided to choose a new trademark for the car, with a typically Bulgarian sound. The name finally selected was Rila, although it was used only unofficially and never appeared either in the cars' documentation or on the vehicles themselves. In 1976, the factory began to assemble the new Moskvitch 2138/2140 model, with engine displacement of 1,360 or 1,500 cubic centimetres, which were later also used in the 408 and 412 models, respectively.

Cancellation

In 1990, shortly after Bulgaria's transition to a market economy, the contract with AZLK was cancelled.

Models

* Moskvitch 408 (1967–1971) * Moskvitch 408I (1970–1973) * Moskvitch 408 and 412, 1,360/1,500 engines (1973–1988) * Moskvitch 21412 "Aleko" (1988–1990)

External links

Москвич-2141 history
(archived)
Moskvitch history

Bulgarian Moskvitch club
{{Automotive industry in Bulgaria Car manufacturers of Bulgaria Lovech Bulgaria–Soviet Union relations Moskvitch 1966 establishments in Bulgaria 1990 disestablishments in Bulgaria bg:Москвич Алеко