Konela

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oy Konela Ab
legal form Corporation
founding 1937
resolution 1997
Reason for dissolution renaming
Seat Espoo
Branch Automobile trade

Oy Konela Ab , based in Espoo , Finland, was an automobile dealer for Lada and various other brands. The company has now been renamed Delta Motor Group .

history

The origins of the company go back to November 1937, when the Lauttasaari Autokorjaamo Oy mechanical engineering company was founded. When the owner changed in 1940, the company was renamed Oy Löfström Ab . After another change of ownership in 1947, the company was renamed Oy Konela Ab .

As the years passed, automobile sales became an increasingly important part of the business. From the late 1940s, Konela sold Pobeda and Von Moskvich vehicles . The Volga brand followed in 1955 . At the end of the 1960s, around 10,000 Moskvich and 200 Volga were sold per year. In addition, vehicles of the Yalta brand and a small number of Ural motorcycles were imported.

Lada imports began in 1971. In the first full year of sales, more than 6000 vehicles of this brand were sold. In the late 1970s and early 1980s there were 10,000 new registrations of this brand. This made the Lada the best-selling car in Finland at the time.

Konela had over 400 service stations and workshops in the mid-1970s. In 1976, more than 12,000 vehicles from the Soviet Union were sold. By 1978 Konela had sold more than 150,000 vehicles. At the Finnish-Russian border there was a processing center that employed around 4,000 people and where the vehicles were processed for the Finnish market. Lappeenranta is given as the location of this center . In order to secure its market share (late 1970s 11%), Konela assembled western components in its vehicles. Most Lada vehicles were sold in 1998 with 15,390 units. That corresponded to a market share in Finland of around 10%.

The participation of the Soviet or Russian side in Konela is unclear. For 1987 a Soviet participation of 95% is given. For 1999 and 2000, AwtoWAS still had a participation of 70%.

In some cases, considerable changes were made to the imported vehicles (different wheelbase, different engines). This also included an eight-seater Volga station wagon. Konela offered a turbocharged version of the WAS-2107 from 1984 to 1986 . The vehicle equipped with spoilers covered the standing kilometer in 32 seconds. Cabriolet conversions of the Lada Samara and Lada Niva were also offered.

In the 1990s, many Ladas were sold to the former Soviet Union. Around 30,000 vehicles are said to have been exported to their country of origin.

The subsidiary Italkon Oy began importing Italian vehicles in the early 1990s: first Lancia, then Fiat and finally Alfa Romeo.

For 1990, 710 employees were given, with a turnover of 731 billion Finnmarks (1989: 783 billion Finnmarks).

In 1997 the company was renamed Delta-Auto. On the Internet it operated under the domain of the old name until at least 2002.

Web links

  • Konela. In: en.wheelsage.org. Retrieved March 22, 2019 .

source

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ VL Malkevich IL Mitrofanov AS Ivanov: The USSR Foreign Trade under Nazi Patolichev 1958-1985 , Moscow 2012th
  2. ↑ Made in Ukraine: ZAZ et LuAZ. In: sovietauto.fr. May 7, 2013, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  3. ^ Timo Pitkänen: History of the Finnish Ural Club, Uralroikka , January 2, 2013.
  4. ^ J. Wilczynski: Multinationals and East / West Relations . Spriner, 1976 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ Stanislav Matrosov: The Development of Russian-Finnish Economic Relationships and Their Influence on the Tourism in Vyborg , bachelor thesis, Dec., 2015.
  6. ^ A b c Carl H. McMillan: Multinationals from the Second World . Springer, 1987 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  7. ↑ a b c John Tagliabue: Nostalgia for the Lada: Cold War, Toasty Heater , in: New York Times com April 20, 2012,
  8. ↑ However, the number of employees seems unrealistic.
  9. ↑ Jaakko Kilpeläinen, Katrina Lintukangas, Finland's Position in Russian Transit Traffic - Is Cross-Border Zone a viable Alternative? , Lappeenranta 2005 (Lappeenranta University of Technology, Northern Dimension Research Center, Publication 13)
  10. ↑ Patrick Gutman: Coopérationindustrie Est-Ouest dans l'automobile et modalités d'insertion des pays de l'Est dans la division internationale du travail occidentale (IIe partie) , in: Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest 11-3 ( 1980) pp. 57-100
  11. ↑ Avtovaz Group Annual report 2000 .
  12. ↑ Volga. In: sovietauto.fr. October 17, 2011, accessed on March 22, 2019 (French).
  13. ↑ Lada 2107 Turbo Konela (1984-1986). In: lautomobileancienne.com. March 24, 2016, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  14. ↑ Lada 2107 Turbo by Konela. In: sovietauto.fr. April 11, 2010, accessed March 22, 2019 (French).
  15. ↑ Pourquoi les Finlandais aimaient la Lada? In: sovietauto.fr. October 25, 2017, accessed on March 22, 2019 (French).
  16. ^ R. Whiteside: Major Companies of Europe 1992/93 . Graham & Trotman, London 1992 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  17. ↑ For comparison: In 1988 there were 509.9 billion Finnmark sales and 700 employees. See R. Whiteside, J. Forsyth: Medium Companies of W. Europe outside the EC Graham & Trotman, London 1991 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  18. ^ Delta-Auto website ( Memento from March 28, 2002 in the Internet Archive )