Automobile Plant GAZ, a subsidiary of GAZ Group, is a leading producer of light and medium commercial vehicles. GAZ Group includes 13 assembly plants in seven regions of Russia and accounts for 50% of the light commercial vehicle market, about 40% of the four-wheel-drive heavy truck market, and around 65% of domestic bus sales.
Automobile Plant GAZ employs 25,120 and includes the following facilities: a car and truck assembly plant, a paint shop, a specialty vehicle manufacturing shop, a frame extrusion facility, and a service centre.
In 2012, GAZ produced more than 104,000 light commercial vehicles, medium-duty trucks, and microbuses for sales of over 66 billion roubles. A production system introduced ten years ago made it possible to boost labour productivity by 300%. New product and research investment will amount to 17 billion roubles between 2013 and 2015.
The main investment projects include:
- production of the new GAZelle Next, a new-generation light commercial model (2.7 billion roubles in investments);
- developing a new family of medium trucks, the MCV Next;
- updating GAZelle and Sobol model lines;
- updating the medium-duty truck line;
- production of a new gas-powered light commercial vehicle.
An important development direction for GAZ is its cooperation with leading world automakers Volkswagen, General Motors and Daimler in producing vehicles under their brands.
Under these cooperative projects, GAZ installed new assembly and welding shops (in 2012), modernised the paint line, upgraded its logistics and quality control system to its partners’ standards, and created new jobs.
Currently GAZ is preparing to launch the GAZelle Next production line, a new family of light commercial vehicles combining state-of-the-art technology, the latest ergonomic upgrades in a package with security and reliability, a low price, economic efficiency, and a simple, low-maintenance design.