In Soviet times, the "grooves" were a familiar attribute of the urban landscape. Barrel-shaped buses transported passengers to cities and villages of a huge country. Today, Pavlovsky Bus Plant LLC, after modernization, is a modern enterprise manufacturing demanded products.
Creature
By the 1930s, “car fever” had swept the country. New automotive giant enterprises were built. Trucks and cars increasingly began to be found on public roads, displacing horse-drawn vehicles. Mechanized vehicles began to enter the army. To maintain the equipment required tools and special equipment.
To meet the growing demand, the government decided to organize the work of the enterprise, where body fittings and driver tools would be produced. The town of Pavlovo was chosen as the site. It was successfully located between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod - the leading automobile centers of the country. The Pavlovsky Bus Plant (PAZ) earned December 5, 1932, releasing almost 2 million rubles worth of products in its first year.
New opportunities
After the war, having close cooperative ties with the Gorky Automobile Plant, PAZ gradually switched to assembling buses. The first five GZA-651 left the gates of the plant on 08/05/1952. It was a one-door hood model based on the GAZ-51, where instead of the body, a passenger compartment with 19 seats was mounted.
It took the staff of the Pavlovsky Bus Plant 6 years to develop their own cabless model PAZ-652. It was a classic “groove”, which became the most recognizable bus of the USSR (before the advent of the Ikarus era). The design feature was two automatic pneumatic doors, comfortable seats and increased capacity. If 23 people were placed in the GZA-651, then the new model is almost twice as many - 42 (23 of which are seats).
For 10 years of production (1958-1968), 62,121 units were collected. The car had high traffic and was mainly intended for various organizations, for moving passengers along suburban and intercity routes. However, it was also used as public urban transport.
Record plant
Pavlovsky Bus Plant has become one of the most important manufacturers of public transport in the USSR. 12/12/1968 factory workers were the first in the Soviet Union to apply the method of transition to a new model without stopping the main conveyor, which helped to reduce production costs and reduce the time for readjustment.
PAZ-672 was the development of the previous model. It was produced by the Pavlovsky Bus Plant until 1989. In total, more than 280,000 copies traveled on the roads. In 1982, the production of a modernized version of the PAZ-672M began. The model had a large engine resource, interior comfort was improved, the reliability of the power steering was improved, and optics were redesigned. In total, there were more than 20 modifications and executions, including all-wheel drive version.
In market conditions
Even before the collapse of the USSR (in 1989), the Pavlovsky Bus Plant put on the conveyor a new model PAZ-3205, which is still being produced. She was destined to become the most massive in the 90s. The appearance and technical characteristics of the small class bus have not changed much. In general, the design has become more modern, the reliability of the motor and main components has been increased. In 2014, the model was restyled. At the moment, about 145,000 PAZ-3205 units have been produced. The designers created about 30 modifications for all occasions:
- single door;
- two-door;
- Passenger
- freight and passenger;
- for persons with disabilities;
- VIP and luxury options;
- in northern execution;
- school;
- isothermal;
- all-wheel drive and others.
Our days
Since 2000, PAZ has accelerated the development of modern buses, producing models of various classes. Among them: PAZ-4228, PAZ-4223, PAZ-4234, PAZ-4230 Aurora, PAZ-5271, PAZ-5272, PAZ-5220. An important step was the creation of the first Russian low-floor city bus PAZ-3237.
Today the enterprise is developing by leaps and bounds. The financial statements for Pavlovsky Bus Plant LLC show good financial performance. For example, in 2015, profit increased by 5%, amounting to 318 million rubles. In 2009, the PAZ-3204 won the title of “The Best Russian Small Class Bus”. This was made possible thanks to a large-scale modernization of production, carried out since 2006.
According to a Swot analysis of the Pavlovsky Bus Plant, the company remains key to the economy of the city of Pavlovo. In fact, it is a city-forming and makes an invaluable contribution to the development of the region. PAZ, despite the difficult economic situation of the 90s of the beginning of the 2000s, was able to maintain production facilities in full. Every working day, up to 42 pieces of equipment go off the assembly line.
Pavlovsky Automobile Plant collects about 80% of city buses in Russia and is one of the largest automobile enterprises in the country with rich manufacturing experience. In terms of output, it is among the top 10 leading world manufacturers.