History
The Zaporizhzhia Automobile Plant “Kommunar” pioneered Soviet microcar production. Its roots go back to 1863, when small agricultural-equipment works appeared in Zaporizhzhia. On that base the Kommunar agricultural machinery plant was created in 1923, building combine harvesters.
In 1958 the Soviet government decided to start building small, affordable cars in Zaporizhzhia. The first Zaporozhets, the ZAZ-965, came off the line in 1960. This tiny air-cooled car quickly became the cheapest vehicle in the country.
In 1966 the plant moved to the more modern ZAZ-966 with better aerodynamics, and in 1970 to the ZAZ-968. Zaporozhets cars were hugely popular with buyers on a tight budget and with disabled drivers, for whom a special hand-controlled version was built.
In 1987 the plant launched the completely new front-wheel-drive ZAZ-1102 Tavria, which remained in production until 2007. After the Soviet Union the plant was renamed AvtoZAZ and assembled Daewoo, Chevrolet and Lada models.
Models of ZAZ
3 models in the database, the earliest is 1960
