Luzkyi avtomobilnyj zavod

Luzkyj avtomobilnyj zavod Луцький автомобільний завод Луцкий автомобильный завод
legal form	OAO
founding	1955
resolution	2000 takeover 2006 own models discontinued 2009 brand name expired
Seat	Ukraine , Lutsk
Branch	Automobile manufacturer

Bogdan's work in Lutsk (2012)

LuAZ-969M , front view (approx. 2007)

A LuAZ-967 - amphibious vehicle (2008)

Cooling body LuMZ-980B, here on a GAZ-53 (2017)

The Luzkyj awtomobilnyj zavod ( Ukrainian Луцький автомобільний завод , German "Luzker Automobilwerk"), also known as LuAZ (Ukrainian / Russian ЛуАЗ, German transcription actually LuAS), was a car manufacturer based in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk . The Russian name Luzki Awtomobilny Sawod ( Russian Луцкий автомобильный завод ) is also used in the literature.

The factory was initially opened as a mechanical engineering company in 1955 and was bought by a consortium in 2000. By 2009 the new owners completely stopped production and renamed the plant. Today buses of the Bogdan brand (German transcription actually Bohdan) are manufactured at the former location .

history

As early as 1949, the Council of Ministers of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic had plans to build up industry in the country. In 1951, construction began on a new machine building plant in Lutsk, which opened on August 25, 1955. At that time it was still called Luzki Awtoremontny Sawod (German Luzker Autoreparaturwerk) and manufactured spare parts for trucks such as the GAZ-51 or GAZ-63 .

A short time later, however, in 1959, the plant was renamed Luzki Maschinostroitelny Sawod (LuMZ). The production of special vehicles began, in particular refrigerated trucks and mobile stalls.

From 1965, the plant participated in the development of the plans for the ZAZ-969 prototype , which was actually supposed to be manufactured by the Zaporisky Avtomobilebudiwny Sawod . Ultimately, however, production was completely transferred to the factory. By December 1966, 50 ZAZ-969W jeeps had been built. In the same month the name was changed to Luzkyi Avtomobilny Zavod (LuAZ, or Ukrainian Luzkyj avtomobilnyj zavod). In the course of time, the type designation of the vehicles changed to LuAZ-969 .

In 1975 the plant began series production of the LuAZ-967M amphibious vehicle . From 1979 an improved version of the LuAZ-969 was built, the LuAZ-969M. On September 22, 1982 the 100,000 runs. Automobile off the assembly line in Lutsk. In the 1980s, efforts are made to further expand production capacities.

With the first signs of the collapse of the Soviet Union , LuAZ tried to build relationships with Western companies, including Swiss companies and Chrysler in March 1990 . In 1992 the company was officially released from a group of companies with the ZAZ plant and converted into an open joint stock company. At the same time, the company got serious economic problems due to a sharp drop in demand for the vehicles.

The situation did not improve until the turn of the millennium. Various cooperation agreements were concluded, including with LADA , for which automobiles were produced on order. In 2000 a total of 3,048 vehicles were built, 150 of them under its own name LuAZ. Finally, the majority of the company's shares were sold to a cooperation that now operates internationally under the name “Bogdan”. At first there were big plans and new automobiles were manufactured, but ultimately none of the types went into mass production. Instead, the construction of omnibuses and trolleybuses began in 2006 . To this end, the new owner invested around 80 million US dollars, and the production of LuAZ models was completely discontinued. Since October 2009 the brand "LuAZ" is no longer used by the new owners.

Models

In the course of its existence, the plant produced a number of different vehicles. The most important representatives are listed here.

• LuMZ-827 (1960–?) - Mobile sales stand based on the GAZ-51 truck . There was also a suitable trailer for the vehicle, the LuMZ-825. Other such vehicles were also manufactured under different type designations.
• GOSNITI-2 (1964–?) - A workshop trolley for repairing agricultural equipment based on the GAZ-51
• LuMZ-890B (1965–1978) - One of many refrigerated vehicles from production, built on the ZIL-130 . Matching refrigerated trailers were also built.
• LuAZ-967 (1975–1991) - a light amphibious vehicle constructed in various variations from 1967 onwards and mass-produced from around 1975 onwards.
• LuAZ-972 (late 1970s – early 1980s) - three-axis version of the LuAZ-967. Around 1998 there was a further developed version, the LuAZ-1901 "Geolog" .
• LuAZ / ZAZ-969W (1965 / 68–1971) - Light off-road vehicle developed from 1965 and mass-produced from 1968.
• LuAZ-969 (1971-1975) - light off-road vehicle
• LuAZ-969A (1975–1979) - revised version of the LuAZ-969
• LuAZ-969M (1979–1990) - revised version of the LuAZ-969A
• LuAZ-1302 (1990–?) - successor to the LuAZ-969 manufactured in various variants
• LuAZ-1301 (approx. 2002-2006) - successor generation of pickups for the LuAZ-1302. However, there was no longer any real mass production.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ LM Shugurov: АВТОМОБИЛИ. России и СССР. Second part. Ilbi / Prostreks, Moscow 1994, ISBN 5-87483-006-5 , various pages.
2. ↑ Contrary to the usual transcription rules, the manufacturer has decided to use the Latin script system under the Bogdan brand, cf. English company website
3. ↑ ^{a b} Announcement about the renaming of the work in October 2009 (Russian)
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Detailed history of the LuAZ plant (Russian)
5. ↑ Website for the prototype ZAZ-969 (Russian)
6. ↑ ^{a b} S. W. Iones; NS Markow and others: Советские полноприводные. Part 1: Passenger Cars. Boris-Print, Tula 2017, ISBN 978-5-90515-434-8 , various pages.
7. ↑ Story on the official company website of Bogdan (English) ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
8. ↑ Article on the history of the work with notes on recent history (Russian)
9. ↑ Overview of the models built by the Luzkyj avtomobilnyj zavod with additional data (Russian)

Web links

Commons : LuAZ  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• History of the plant by years (Russian)
• Website of Bogdan Motors Cooperation, the successor company to LuAZ (English)