Ural Automobile Plant: history, production, products

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Ural Automobile Plant (OJSC UralAZ) is the leader in the production of off-road trucks in Russia. The company produces finished vehicles and chassis with 4x4, 6x6 and 8x8 all-wheel drive. Cars have won respect due to the unique cross-country ability, decent quality and ease of control.

History Pages

The Ural Automobile Plant was formed in the Chelyabinsk Region on the basis of one of the subdivisions of the Moscow Automobile Plant during the war years. Evacuated to Miass, the workshops of the foundry and automotive industries were re-equipped by the heroic efforts of the employees of the enterprise into a full-fledged automobile plant, where they produced the legendary ZIS trucks so necessary for the front and the post-war economy.

Produced models "ZIS" -5V, "UralZIS" -355M, "UralZIS" -355V, although they gained legendary status due to widespread use, they did not differ in advanced technologies and convenienceoperation. The government felt that it was unacceptable to produce such outdated models, while the country had already successfully launched spacecraft. The designers were instructed to speed up the design of a modern all-wheel drive truck. Engineers brilliantly coped with a difficult task. In 1961, the Miass Automobile Plant "Ural" launched the "Ural-375" series, which won a diploma from VDNKh and became the basic model for the next decades.

King off-road

The Ural-375 truck has unsurpassed cross-country ability and is actively used to this day. He became the base car in the Soviet, and then in the Russian army. The model has many modifications for transporting personnel, transporting goods and weapons, and is used as a chassis for communication systems, Grad rocket launchers, mobile stations, tank trucks, truck cranes, etc. Over the years, the Ural Automobile Plant has produced over 110,000 units.

In the national economy, "Ural-375" was used no less actively, especially in remote areas. If a gasoline engine with high fuel consumption is used on army models, economical powerful YaMZ-238 and YaMZ-236 units are installed in civilian versions.

Modern production

Ural Automobile Plant (OJSC UralAZ) successfully overcame the difficult economic years of the 1990s. After 75 years since its founding, it remains the leader in the all-wheel drive truck segment. Thiscontribute to regular modernization programs, the use of high-performance equipment, competent management. Since 2004, UralAZ has been implementing a new production system based on three pillars:

1. Maximum quality.
2. Minimum execution time.
3. Minimum cost.

When developing new products, UralAz uses the “quality gate” system: it allows you to rationally manage the planning, development and release of products. Quality control is carried out by randomly selecting a finished car. All its systems and mechanisms are carefully checked. The Ural Automobile Plant takes care of consumers even after the sale of cars. A dealer network and service centers operate in the regions of Russia and the CIS.

New technologies

In recent years, the Automobile Plant "Ural" (Miass) pays increased attention to the design of trucks. In particular, a cabover cab has been developed. It allows you to increase the smoothness of the ride, improves visibility and controllability by shifting the center of mass of the body to the center of mass of the chassis. A cabover cab with a four-point suspension using spring-mechanical shock absorber struts is located above the engine. The driver's seat is equipped with air suspension, the steering column is adjustable. The transfer box has electro-pneumatic control, which reduces the level of vibrations and noise. In particular, the cabover cab is used in the new Ural-5323 and Ural-63/65 truck families.

Products

UralAZ produces trucks in several directions. The army family is represented by various modifications of unarmored and armored vehicles. Cars of the civil family are widely used for construction, development of resource-extracting industries, and in agriculture. Special equipment based on the "Ural" has over 200 items.

Since 2015, the Ural Automobile Plant has been producing a fundamentally new family of civilian trucks Ural-Next. The vehicles received an updated design based on the GAZ-Next cabs, developed by the Joint Engineering Center of the GAZ Group of Companies. This made it possible to unify the production base and significantly reduce costs. In general, Ural-Next received more than 50 technological changes. On all modifications, the YaMZ-536 engine is installed.

Ural Automobile Plant looks to the future with confidence. As a leader in the production of army trucks, the company is gradually mastering the niche of civilian models and special equipment. Export accounts for a third of total sales.