AZLK Automobile Plant: history of creation, products and interesting facts

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

Cars of the Moskvich brand continue to drive on the roads of the entire former USSR, while the AZLK plant has officially ceased operations long ago. The Moscow Automobile Plant named after Lenin Komsomol produced several lines of automotive equipment that became legendary. The prospects for small domestic cars were promising, but, unfortunately, the economic situation was not in favor of the auto industry.

The story began with Ford

The history of the AZLK plant began with an idea and big plans. The decision to build an automobile enterprise was made in 1925, and a place for the future giant was quickly found. The initial planned capacity of the enterprise provided for the production of 10 thousand units of cars per month. Before the start of construction, an agreement was signed with the Ford company on technical consultations and deliveries of 74,000 car kits for assembly in the USSR over four years. The construction of the first buildings of the plant began in the summer of 1929, and by winter the construction was announced as a shock.

The main factory building was put intocommissioned in November 1930. At the same time, the automobile plant received its first name: “KIM State Automobile Assembly Plant”. The abbreviation “KIM”, mysterious for contemporaries, stands for “Communist International of Youth”. The production cycle of the enterprise consisted of assembling cars, assembling body parts, painting, riveting frames and upholstery. In addition to the main activity, until 1933, the task of production included car repairs (medium, capital). In 1932, the AZLK plant mastered the production of engines for agricultural machinery (combines).

Gorky Branch

In 1932, the Automobile Assembly Plant. KIM launched the production of GAZ-AA trucks, parts were supplied by the Gorky Automobile Plant. In the total annual output, freight transport accounted for 30% of all products. Under the patronage of GAZ, the AZLK plant passed as a branch in 1933. Production capacities were fully transferred to the production of GAZ-AA trucks, engines for combines. Components for the workshops of the Auto Assembly Plant named after. CMMs were supplied by domestic manufacturers.

Growth in government orders required an increase in assembly line capacity to 60,000 vehicles a year. Also in the production plans was the release of new equipment: the modernized GAZ-AA model, popularly called the "one and a half", and the first passenger car M-1. To implement the tasks in the period from 1935 to 1937, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out. Production plans were adjusted, and from the assembly of passenger cars in the Moscow branch of GAZrefused.

The first small cars KIM

In 1939, the AZLK plant became an independent production enterprise, where a large-scale reconstruction was carried out with the aim of converting capacities to the production of small cars. Initially, it was planned to produce 50 thousand units of cars per year. To ensure the activity at the enterprise, a design and experimental workshop was created.

The first small car KIM-10-50 rolled off the assembly line in April 1940. The first cars took part in the May Day demonstration. In addition to the production of brand new cars, at the beginning of 1941, additional lines were installed at the plant and the production of gearboxes for heavy motorcycle equipment was mastered.

War Years

From July 1941, production is completely transferred to the production of military products. The first order was the production of shell cases for the legendary Katyushas. The advance of German troops to the capital forced the Soviet leadership to evacuate most of the strategic enterprises. The AZLK plant in October 1941 was moved to the city of Sverdlovsk, where it was connected to a tank plant. On the basis of the association, the production of tank equipment and shells for aircraft batteries was started.

The final merger of the Tank Plant No. 37 and the Auto Assembly Plant. KIM happened in 1942. The new enterprise was named "Plant No. 50", specializing in the production of gearboxes for tanks. In the remaining Moscow buildingsThe plant was repairing tank engines coming from the front. The liquidation of the plant began in 1943 and lasted until 1944. Meanwhile, the Allies began to supply cars under the Lend-Lease program, and they required repairs. On the basis of the mothballed Moscow enterprise, it was decided to open an auto parts plant, where it was required to master the production of 83 spare parts for foreign passenger vehicles - Studebakers, Dodges and others. The plant successfully coped with this task until the end of the war.

Triumphant Rebirth

In May 1945, immediately after the end of the war, the Soviet government revives the idea of producing small cars under the Moskvich brand. To achieve the goals, the Moscow plant of small cars is being built. The prototype of the first passenger cars is the Opel-Kadet K-38. The first small cars were produced on German equipment imported into the country under a reparation agreement. The mass production of Soviet cars began with the Moskvich-400 model in 1947. In 1959, the plant's design bureau developed the M-444 car based on the Fiat-600 prototype. Under the name "Zaporozhets" it began to be produced at the Zaporozhye Automobile Plant.

In 1962, the AZLK plant began production of the M-407 passenger car, and in 1964, the M-408 car with a sedan body was put into serial production. The sixties of the last century for MZMA were full of accomplishments, victories and new plans. In 1966, the 100th anniversary Moskvich rolled off the assembly line of the automobile plant.model M-408. At the same time, the AZLK plant was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for successful work in innovation and ahead of schedule. At the same time, a plan was adopted for the next reconstruction of the enterprise's capacities, aimed at expanding production and increasing the production of cars up to two hundred thousand cars a year.

In 1967, the company launched a new model of the M-412 car, and a little later, in the same year, the millionth Moskvich left the gates of the car factory. Simultaneously with the increase in production, the plant's engineers began to work to improve the level of car safety, and strength tests (crash tests) were carried out. For fruitful work, the plant staff was awarded the Red Banner of Commemoration.

In 1968, as part of the expansion of production workshops, a new complex was laid in the Tekstilshchikov district, and on October 25 of the same year, the Moscow Small Car Plant received a new name: the AZLK plant (Moscow).

Rally Racing

Moskvich cars took part in the auto marathon for the first time in 1968. Racers drove 16,000 kilometers along the London-Sydney highway in an M-412 car and won fourth place in the team standings. The rating of the domestic auto industry has risen sharply, and the popularity of cars produced by the Moskvich plant AZLK has gained momentum, expressed in the increased volume of exports.

The next competition, held in 1970, was more severe in difficulty, and the total length of the London-Mexico routeamounted to 26 thousand kilometers. The team of racers of the automobile plant took three places at once in the team standings: second, third and fourth. The November competitions of the same year brought great success to the plant: the Belgian crew on the Moskvich M-412 took the highest step of the podium in the Tour de Belgique rally.

Russian riders of the AZLK team got the first place in 1971 for passing the track in the Tour de Europe rally and won the Gold Cup. In 1973, in the international-class rally "Safari-73", held in West Africa, the factory team performed on three cars of the M-412 model and took first place. A new victory with the victory of gold and silver cups was received in October 1974 for the passage of the route "Tour of Europe-74" with a length of 15 thousand kilometers.

Difficulties of the planned economy

The seventies were the heyday of the plant. In August 1974, the company produced the two millionth car. Cars were exported to more than seventy countries of the world, which accounted for most of the total gross domestic product. The start of export deliveries began in 1948, and in 1977 the millionth copy was sent to foreign countries.

In the same period, prototypes of a completely new model of small cars were developed in the design department of AZLK. But the planned mechanisms for managing the economy in the USSR were too clumsy in their decisions, and obsolete models of equipment fell into the production flow. This significantly reduced competition, the export of cars fell to 20 thousanda year in the early eighties. In the domestic market, demand also fell.

The situation began to change for the better only by the mid-80s. Steps were taken to improve the quality, which significantly reduced the claims against the produced cars of the M-2140 model. Modernization was carried out at the plant, and in 1986 the production of a new model M-2141 began.

In 1987, AZLK, together with AvtoVAZ, began to develop a domestic gasoline and diesel engine with an engine displacement of 1.8–1.9 liters. To finalize the technical excellence of the engine, a contract was signed on joint work with the British company Ricardo. But the work was not implemented in full due to the collapse of the USSR. All payments on the loan received under the contract went to the balance of AZLK.

Closing business

The first wave of the crisis in the early 90s caught AZLK full of promise and accomplishments. Plans were created to introduce into production modifications of the Moskvich models M-2143, M-2141, M-2336. But all this was not destined to be fulfilled due to lack of funding. The Moskvichs of the base model M-2141 were produced, and miraculously managed to launch mass production of a pickup truck M-2335. In the nineties, a batch of cars of the M-2141-135 model was produced for export to Western Europe in the nineties. From the beginning of the nineties, car production was constantly declining, in 1996 the production lines were idle. 1997 seemed to breathe life into the plant, the support of the Moscow government was received, a program was developedoptimization and development of production, a decision was made to equip cars with Renault engines. Until the end of 1997, batches of modifications of the models M-2141 "Yuri Dolgoruky" and M-214241 "Prince Vladimir" and several others were produced. In the first half of 1998, the plant ceased to be unprofitable.

But the default that occurred in August 1998 drove the company into losses, completely depriving it of working capital. In 2001, only 0.81 thousand cars were produced at the plant, which actually became a stoppage of activity. The AZLK plant did not resume work anymore. But the territory where the legendary company was located is still associated with the name of the AZLK enterprise: the address of the plant is Moscow, Volgogradsky Prospekt, 40. Officially, the enterprise was liquidated in 2010.

Lineup

During the entire period of its history, the company had several names that served as the names of cars. Chronology of release and lineup of auto plant AZLK:

• 1930-1940: Ford A series (sedan), Ford AA series truck, AA series GAZ truck and GAZ-A sedan. KIM models: KIM-10-50 and KIM-10-52 sedans, KIM-10-51 convertible.
• 1947-1956: M-400-420, M-401-420 sedans, M-400-422 van, M-400-420A convertible.
• 1956-1965: sedan M-420, M-407, M-403, all-wheel drive sedan M-410 and M-410N. Station wagon: M-423, M-423N, M-424, all-wheel drive station wagon M-411.
• 1964-1988. Sedan: M-408, M-412, M-2138, M-2140, M-2140-117. Universal: M-426, M-427, M-2136, M-2137. Pickup: M-2315. Van: M-433, M-434, M-2733, M-2734.
• 1986-2001. Hatchback: M-2141, M-2141-02 "Svyatogor", M-2141-R5 "Yuri Dolgoruky". Sedan: M-2142, M-2142-02 "Svyatogor", M-2142-R5 "Prince Vladimir", M-2142-S "Ivan Kalita". Van: M-2901, M 2901-02 "Svyatogor". Pickup: M-2335, M-2335-02 "Svyatogor". Coupe: M-2142-SO "Duet".

Our days

The former AZLK plant is being actively developed today. Since 2017, local municipalities have been given the right to develop industrial zones on their own initiative. Today, in several buildings of the plant, nothing reminds of the giant of the automotive industry. Now small productions for the manufacture of LEDs, chips, and building materials are noisy here. The owners plan to build office, retail and residential buildings on the premises of the enterprise, which are part of the third transport ring.

And yet the territory of the AZLK plant still hears the rumble of automobile assembly shops. In the main workshop, cars are assembled under the Renault brand. In 2015, the Russian Patent Bureau received an application from the Renault Russia plant for the historical emblems of the AZLK plant, perhaps this is an attempt to revive the legendary car models in a modern interpretation. The owner of the trademark "Moskvich" at present and until 2021 is the concern "Volkswagen".

Reconstruction of the entire territory of the plant has not yet begun, and if you want to consider the former giant, travel back in time or make new plans, it is worth visiting the place where domestic small cars were born - the AZLK plant (Moscow). Its address is simple: Volgogradsky prospect, buildings 40-42.