- published: 10 Jul 2015
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UAZ (УАЗ) is an initialism for Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod (Ульяновский Автомобильный Завод, which translates to "Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant") is an automobile manufacturer based in Ulyanovsk, Russia which manufactures off-road vehicles, buses and trucks. It is best known for its Model 469 jeep, which has seen wide use as a military vehicle in Russia and around the world. The UAZ factory started production in 1941 as part of the Soviet war effort.
The Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant was founded in 1941 as a direct result of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. The rapidly advancing Germans threatened to capture the bulk of Soviet industry, concentrated in the Western parts of the country, and thereby undercut the ability of the USSR to supply its troops. In response to this threat the government of Joseph Stalin ordered the evacuation of strategically crucial industrial centers to the East. By the October 1941, the rapid German drive to Moscow, triggered the decision to relocate the Moscow automotive manufacturer ZIS to the Volga town of Ulyanovsk. The town, already a nascent industrial centre with a sufficiently developed infrastructure and a good supply of skilled workers, would be an ideal location for the reconstituted factory. It was also safely out of reach of the German army. At that time of its founding, the plant was considered a subsidiary of ZIS. By 1942, the plant began production of artillery shells and automobiles. The first automoblie produced at the plant was the ZIS-5 three-ton truck.