KrAZ

The Kremenchuk Automobile Plant was a major Soviet producer of heavy trucks and special vehicles, based in Kremenchuk in the Ukrainian SSR. Its history began in 1945 with a combine-harvester works. In 1959, during a reorganisation of the Soviet truck industry, the plant was switched to heavy vehicles.

In 1959 and 1960 production of the heavy YaAZ family was transferred to Kremenchuk from Yaroslavl. That is how the first KrAZ trucks appeared: three-axle heavyweights with diesel engines. The KrAZ-257 and KrAZ-255B became indispensable on construction sites, in mining and in the oil and gas industry.

The KrAZ-255B, nicknamed the “lunokhod” for its extraordinary off-road ability, became a symbol of Soviet heavy machinery. The 6×6 truck worked on permafrost, in deserts and in the tropics, and KrAZ vehicles were exported to dozens of countries. After 1991 the plant became Ukrainian and still builds heavy trucks for military and civilian use.