Cars of the Moskvich brand continue to drive along the roads of the entire former USSR, while the AZLK plant has long officially shut down. The Moscow Automobile Plant named after Leninsky Komsomol produced several lines of automotive technology that has become 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 ideas and big plans. The decision to build an automobile enterprise was made in 1925, a place was quickly found for the future giant. The initial planned capacity of the enterprise provided for the release of 10 thousand units of cars per month. Before the start of construction, an agreement was signed with Ford on technical consultations and deliveries for four years of 74 thousand car kits for assembly in the USSR. The construction of the first buildings of the plant began in the summer of 1929, and by winter the construction was declared shock.
The main factory building was commissioned in November 1930. Then the car factory received its first name: "State Automobile Assembly Plant named after KIM." Mysterious for contemporaries, the abbreviation "KIM" stands for "Communist Youth International." The production cycle of the enterprise consisted of car assembly, assembly of body parts, painting, riveting frames and wallpaper. In addition to the main activity, until 1933 the production task included car repair (medium, capital). In 1932, the AZLK plant mastered the production of engines for agricultural machinery (combines).
Gorky branch
In 1932, the Car Assembly Plant. KIM launched the production of GAZ – AA freight vehicles; parts were supplied by the Gorky Automobile Plant. In the total annual output, freight transport accounted for 30% of all products. Under the auspices of GAZ, the AZLK plant was transferred as a branch in 1933. Production capacities were completely transferred to the production of GAZ – AA trucks, engines for combines. Accessories for the workshops of the Automobile Assembly Plant named after CMMs were supplied by domestic manufacturers.
The growth of state orders required an increase in conveyor assembly capacities to 60 thousand cars per 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. For the implementation of tasks in the period from 1935 to 1937, a large-scale reconstruction was carried out. Production plans were adjusted, and they refused to assemble passenger cars in the Moscow branch of GAZ.
The first KIM compact cars
In 1939, the AZLK plant became an independent production enterprise, where a large-scale reconstruction was carried out with the aim of re-profiling capacities for the production of small cars. It was originally planned to produce 50 thousand units of cars per year. To ensure activity at the enterprise, a design and experimental workshop was created.
The first KIM-10-50 passenger car came off the assembly line in April 1940. The first cars took part in the May Day demonstration. In addition to the release of brand-new cars, in early 1941, additional lines were installed at the plant and production of gearboxes for heavy motorcycle equipment was mastered.
Years of war
Since July 1941, production has completely switched to the production of military products. The first order was the release of shells for the legendary Katyusha. The advance of German troops to the capital forced the Soviet leadership to evacuate most strategic enterprises. AZLK plant in October 1941 was moved to the city of Sverdlovsk, where it was connected to the tank factory. On the basis of the association, the production of tank equipment and shells for aircraft batteries was launched.
The final merger of Tank Plant No. 37 and the Car Assembly Plant named after KIM happened in 1942. The new enterprise received the name "Plant No. 50", specializing in the production of gearboxes for tanks. In the remaining Moscow buildings of the plant, tank engines from the front were repaired. 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 needed repairs. On the basis of the canned Moscow enterprise, it was decided to open an auto parts factory, where it was necessary to master the production of 83 items of spare parts for foreign passenger automobile vehicles - Studebaker, Dodge, and others. The plant successfully coped with this task until the end of the war.
Triumphal rebirth
In May 1945, immediately after the war ended, the Soviet government revived the idea of producing small cars under the Moskvich brand. To achieve the goals, the "Moscow small car factory" is being built. The prototype of the first passenger cars is the Opel-Cadet K-38. The first passenger cars were produced on German equipment imported into the country under a reparation agreement. Mass production of Soviet cars began with the Moskvich-400 model in 1947. In 1959, a M-444 car based on the Fiat-600 prototype was developed at the plant’s design bureau. Under the name "Zaporozhets" they began to produce it at the Zaporizhzhya Automobile Plant.
In 1962, the AZLK plant began producing passenger cars of the M-407 model, and in 1964 the M-408 car with a sedan-type body was launched into serial production. The sixties of the last century for MZMA were full of achievements, victories and new plans. In 1966, the jubilee 100th Moskvich of the M-408 model rolled off the assembly line of the car factory. Then the AZLK plant was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for successful work in innovation and early fulfillment of plans. At the same time, a plan was adopted for the next reconstruction of the enterprise’s facilities, aimed at expanding production and increasing the production of cars to two hundred thousand cars a year.
In 1967, the company launched the production of a new model of the car model M-412, and a little later, in the same year, the millionth Moskvich left the gates of the automobile plant. Simultaneously with the increase in production, the engineers of the plant began work to increase the level of car safety, strength tests (crash tests) were carried out. For fruitful work, the plant's staff was awarded the Memorable Red Banner.
In 1968, as part of the expansion of production facilities, a new complex was laid down in the Tekstilshchikov area, and on October 25 of the same year, the Moscow small car factory received a new name: AZLK plant (Moscow).
Rally racing
For the first time in a car marathon, Moskvich cars took part in 1968. Racers drove 16 thousand kilometers along the London - Sydney highway on the M-412 model car and won fourth place in the team event. The rating of the domestic automobile industry has grown sharply, and the popularity of the cars produced by the Moskvich AZLK plant has gained momentum, which is reflected in the increased volume of exports.
The next competitions, which took place in 1970, were more severe in difficulty, and the total length of the London - Mexico route was 26 thousand kilometers. The team of car plant racers immediately took three places in the team event: second, third and fourth. The November competitions of the same year brought the plant a striking success: the Belgian crew on the Moskvich M-412 took the highest step in the Tour de Belgique rally.
Russian drivers of the AZLK team won first place in 1971 for completing the route in the Tour de Europa rally and won the Golden Cup. In 1973, in the Safari-73 international-class rally held in West Africa, the factory team performed on three M-412 cars and took first place. A new victory with the conquest of gold and silver cups was obtained in October 1974 for passing the “Tour of Europe-74” route, which is 15 thousand kilometers long.
The difficulties of a planned economy
The seventies were the heyday of the plant. In August 1974, the company produced a two millionth car. Auto export was carried out in more than seventy countries of the world, which accounted for most of the total gross product. The beginning of export deliveries began in 1948, and in 1977 a millionth copy was sent to non-CIS 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 conducting the economy in the USSR were too clumsy in decisions, and outdated models of technology fell into the production flow. This significantly reduced competitiveness; machine exports fell to 20 thousand a year by the beginning of the eighties. In the domestic market, demand also fell.
The situation began to change for the better only in the mid-80s. Steps were taken to improve the quality, which significantly reduced the claims on the released model M-2140 cars. The plant was modernized, and in 1986 the production of a new model of the M-2141 model began.
In 1987, AZLK, together with AvtoVAZ, began developing a domestic gasoline and diesel engine with an engine displacement of 1.8–1.9 liters. To refine the technical perfection of the engine, a contract was signed on joint work with the English company Ricardo. But the work was not implemented in full in connection with the collapse of the USSR. All payments on the loan received under the contract fell on the balance sheet of AZLK.
Company closure
The first wave of the crisis of the early 90s found AZLK full of prospects and achievements. Plans were created for the introduction of modifications of the Moskvich models M-2143, M-2141, M-2336 into production. But all this was not destined to be fulfilled due to lack of funding. "Muscovites" of the base model M-2141 were produced, and miraculously managed to launch mass production of cars such as the M-2335 pickup. For export to Western Europe in the nineties released a batch of machines of model M – 2141-135.
Since the beginning of the nineties, car production has been steadily declining; in 1996, production lines were idle. 1997 seemed to breathe life into the plant, support was received from the Moscow government, a program was developed to optimize and develop production, and it was decided to equip cars with Renault engines. Until the end of 1997, batches of machine modifications of the M-2141 "Yuri Dolgoruky" and M-214241 "Prince Vladimir" models and several others were produced. In the first half of 1998, the plant ceased to be unprofitable.
But the default in August 1998 drove the company at a loss, completely depriving it of working capital. In 2001, the plant produced a total of 0.81 thousand cars, this was actually a halt to the 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. The company was officially liquidated in 2010.
The lineup
Over the entire period of its history, the company had several names that served as the names of automobiles. Chronology of release and model range of a car factory AZLK:
- 1930-1940: Ford A series (sedan), Ford truck AA series, cargo GAZ series AA and GAZ-A sedan. KIM models: KIM-10-50 and KIM-10-52 sedans, KIM-10-51 convertible.
- 1947-1956: sedans M-400-420, M-401-420, van M-400-422, convertible M-400-420A.
- 1956-1965: sedan M-420, M-407, M-403, four-wheel drive sedan M-410 and M-410N. Station wagon: M-423, M-423H, M-424, all-wheel drive station wagon M-411.
- 1964-1988 years. Sedan: M-408, M-412, M-2138, M-2140, M-2140-117. Wagon: M-426, M-427, M-2136, M-2137. Pickup: M-2315. Van: M-433, M-434, M-2733, M-2734.
- 1986-2001 years. 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 the right to develop industrial zones on their own initiative. Today, in several buildings of the plant, it does not recall anything about the giant of the automotive industry. Now there are noisy small production facilities for the manufacture of LEDs, chips, building materials. On the premises of the enterprise, included in the third transport ring, the owners plan to build office, retail and residential buildings.
Nevertheless, the territory of the AZLK plant still hears the hum of assembly automobile workshops. In the main workshop, cars are assembled under the Renault brand. In 2015, from the Renault Russia plant, the Russian Patent Office received an application for the historical emblems of the AZLK plant, perhaps this is an attempt to revive the legendary car models in a modern reading. The owner of the Moskvich trademark at present and until 2021 is the Volkswagen concern.
Reconstruction of the entire territory of the plant has not yet begun, and if there is a desire to consider the former giant, go back in time or build new plans, it is worth visiting the place where domestic small cars were born - AZLK plant (Moscow). Its address is simple: Volgogradsky Prospekt, buildings 40-42.