 | |
.jpg) Former ZiL assembly plant in 2014 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Company type | Joint-stock |
| MCX: ZILL MCX: ZILLP | |
| Industry | Automotive Defence |
| Founded | 1916 (1916) |
| Fate | Production ended in 2012 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people |
|
| Products |
|
| Revenue | $12.1 million[1] (2016) |
| −$19 million[1] (2016) | |
| −$21.5 million[1] (2016) | |
| Owner | City ofMoscow Property Department[2] |
| Website | www |
Public Joint-Stock Company – Likhachov Plant (OJSC AMO ZiL;Russian:Публичное акционерное общество – Завод имени Лихачёва,romanized: Publichnoye aktsionernoye obshchestvo – Zavod imeni Likhachyova), commonly known asZiL (ЗиЛ), was anautomobile manufacturer based inDanilovsky District ofMoscow,Russia from 1916 to 2012. It is best known for producinglimousines used by theelite of theSoviet Union which led the company to become the namesake of theZiL lanes.
ZiL was founded to assemble and repair American and Italian vehicles in Russia, but by the 1950s had expanded to produce domesticautomobiles,trucks,military vehicles, andheavy equipment. ZiL's limousines were popular with thenomenklatura ofCommunist Party and it became one of the main producers ofluxury cars in the Soviet Union. ZiL wasprivatised after thedissolution of the Soviet Union but growingunprofitability led the company to cease automobile production, with the last ZiL vehicle being assembled in 2012, and itsliquidation as an automobile manufacturer by 2020. ZiL continues to exist legally as areal estate development company for the former factory site in Moscow, on which a new urban district will be built by theLSR Group.[3]
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ZiL was founded on 2 August 1916 as the Moscow Automotive Society (AMO) (Russian:Автомобильное Московское Общество,romanized: Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo) and the factory was built in Tyufeleva Grove south ofMoscow, inside ameander of theMoskva River, being completed in 1917 just before theRussian Revolution. It was a modern building with the latest in American equipment and was designed to employ 6,000 workers.[4] The plans were to produceFiat F-15 1.5-ton trucks under licence in 1917, but because of theOctober Revolution and the subsequentRussian Civil War, it took until 1 November 1924 to produce the first vehicle, theAMO-F-15, which was shown at aparade on 7 November. Nevertheless, the factory still managed to assemble trucks bought fromItaly from 1917 to 1919. On 30 April 1923, the factory was named after Italian anarchistPietro Ferrero, but in 1925 was renamed to First National Automobile Factory (1-й Государственный автомобильный завод;1-y Gosudarstvennyy avtomobil'nyy). In 1927,Ivan Likhachev was appointed as a head of the factory. In April 1929, it was agreed on to expand the plant to buildAutocar 2.5-ton truck models.[5][6][7]
From 1929 to 1931, the ZiL factory was re-equipped and expanded with the help of the American companyA.J. Brandt Co.[8][9], and changed its name to Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod Imeni Stalina (ZIS orZiS), in honour of then-Soviet leaderJoseph Stalin. In the 1930s, facilities were modernised, which allowed the factory to manufacture vehicles with parts that were domestically designed in the Soviet Union, rather than purely licensed and imported models.
Following theGerman invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the ZIS plant was soon evacuated to new facilities in cities further east, includingUlyanovsk,Chelyabinsk,Miass, andShadrinsk. These factories continued to manufacturer automobiles as separate entities after the end of the war in 1945. The ZIS plant began manufacturingrefrigerators in 1950. ZIS was a major provider of training, tooling, and technical support for the establishment ofFirst Automotive Works in 1953, as part of Soviet assistance to thePeople's Republic of China. The Jiefang CA-10, based on the SovietZIS-150, was the first Chinese-produced truck and began production in 1956.
In 1956, during theDe-Stalinization period, the factory's name was changed again to Zavod imeni Likhachyova ("Factory named after Likhachev") after its former directorIvan Likhachev.[10] ZiL had a history of exporting trucks toCuba, trade resumed in the early 21st century.[11]
By the mid-1970s, ZiL was struggling to compete as a truck manufacturer with the newly-builtKAMAZ plant located inNaberezhnye Chelny. TheZIL-130 was severely outdated and its main development project, the ZIL-170, was transferred to KAMAZ. Production of theZIL-133, a modernised version of the ZIL-130 with a 3axle configuration, began in 1975 to hold over until a new model could be produced. ZiL began concentrating on development of the ZIL-169 which featured a brand new engine that was designed in-house at the factory. However, testing found serious flaws with the newtransmission, which had to be redesigned. Delays meant that the earliest examples of the ZIL-169 were only produced in 1985, and preparations for full-scale production were only completed just before thecollapse of the Soviet Union.
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ZiL became associated with the production ofluxury cars, despite being primarily a manufacturer of trucks, beginning with theZIS-101 in 1936. Initially based on American cars, a number ofexecutive car andlimousine models of increasingly Soviet design were produced over time. ZiL limousines quickly became very popular with thenomenklatura – theelite of the rulingCommunist Party of the Soviet Union. The ZiL limousines were the official car that carried the Sovietheads of state, and many Soviet Union allied leaders, to summits or in parades. The limousines were flown to international summits as, for example, in 1987 and 1990 to Washington, D.C. in the US forMikhail Gorbachev's official state visits.[12][13]
ZiL lanes, road lanes dedicated to vehicles carrying top Soviet officials, received their nicknames from the frequent sight of ZiL cars in them.
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After the final ZiL limousine was built in 2012, the Moscow factory administration stopped truck production and the company was declared bankrupt in 2013. ZiL still exists as a legal entity, but produces no vehicles. In 2014 it was announced that the factory site will be turned into a residential development.[14] Most factory buildings were dismantled in 2015.[15]
The factory's equipment and other automotive assets were auctioned off to a new company, "MSTs6 AMO ZIL". It employs 47 staff, mostly former ZiL workers.[16] The company took part in theMoscow International Automobile Salon 2016.[17]
After the building of "MSTs6 AMO ZIL" was demolished in 2020, it was believed that the company ceased to exist. However, it was reported in 2021 that MSTs6 continued to operate. Its staff and equipment were moved to theMoscow Oblast.[18]
In 2003, ZiL was transferred to the management of the Moscow Automobile Company ("MAC"), a subsidiary of the Center for Investment Projects and Programs ("CIPP"), which specializes in management consulting, crisis management and the organization of project financing.[19]
The ZiL factory is portrayed in a number of English language documentaries. The 2001 documentary by Daniel Leconte,Lenin if you knew (renamedUSSR Memories), follows the fate of a family associated with the factory as well as the factory itself in the 1990s.[20] The factory is also a feature of the 2014 documentary,The Last Limousine.[21]
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