Moskvitch
Moskvitch (Russian: Москвич) (sometimes also written as Moskvich, Moskvič or Moskwitsch) was an automobile brand from Russia produced by AZLK from 1946 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2002. The current article incorporates information about both the brand and the joint-stock successor of AZLK for the sake of simplicity.
OAO Moskvitch was a privatized venture name given to the former factory in order to avoid legal issues after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the factory had no assembly branches outside Russia after 1991, its name is largely used today to refer to the building located in Lower Eastern part of Moscow and abandoned since 2006.
The word moskvitch (Russian: москвич) itself translates as "(a) Muscovite" into English. It was used to point out the original location of the cars manufactured outside of Russia's capital, Moscow.
Early history
In 1929 the construction of Moscow Automotive Plant began with initial production of 24,000 vehicles. In 1941 the plant was evacuated to Ural and the entire production converted for the manufacture of the military equipment at the dawn of World War II. After the war, the USSR acquired an entire Opel manufacturing line from Brandenburg in Germany. A factory called MZMA (Moskovsky Zavod Malolitrazhnykh Avtomobiley, that is, Moscow Compact Car Factory) started in 1947 to manufacture an automobile called Moskvitch 400 based on the Opel Kadett. Further models were developed by Soviet engineers. In 1969, the factory changed name to AZLK (Avtomobilny Zavod imeni Leninskogo Komsomola, which means Car Factory in the name of the Leninist Communist Youth Union).
Moskvitch (Bulgaria)
The Moskvitch was a 20th-century Soviet/Bulgarian passenger car. Between 1966 and 1990, the Balkan factory in Lovech, Bulgaria, assembled the Soviet-designed Moskvitch 408 (later replaced by the 412 / 1500 and Aleko) from complete knock down (CKD) kits.
The beginnings
During the fall of 1965 Bulgaria 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 20 Bulgarian engineers is sent to the MZMA (Moscow Factory for Compact Cars, later renamed to AZLK or Car Factory of the Lenin Communist Youth. By the end of July 1966 a total of 90 people (in three groups of 30 people each) were sent to the MZMA for training. Soon after that, the head engineer responsible for the construction of the new factory in Bulgaria, Aleksey Tatarinov, visited the city of Lovech, and the work on the project began.
Moskvitch (disambiguation)
Moskvitch may refer to:
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