Lviv Forklift Plant

Information about the history of the Lviv forklift plant, and especially the models it built, is rather hard to find. It is known that from the 1950s the 4045M and 4045R forklifts (lifting capacity 3 and 5 tonnes respectively, engine from the GAZ-51A truck) were built in parallel, and from the early 1980s the 4013 and 4014 instead (3.2 and 5 tonnes respectively, engine from the GAZ-52-04). The latter can be distinguished from their predecessors by their much squarer shape. The 4008 forklift with a 10-tonne lifting capacity and the engine of the ZiL-157 truck was also built.

The plant is also known to have been founded in 1948. At its best, annual output reached 20,000 forklifts, but after the collapse of the Soviet Union it became ever harder to compete with similar forklifts from foreign companies. In 1996, for example, only 500 units were built, most of them chassis completed to specific orders. As a result the company went bankrupt, and production moved from Lviv to a reserve site near the city. Since November 2000 the legal successor of the Lviv forklift plant has been ZAO "Avtopogruzchik". Its current range includes forklifts with lifting capacities of 5, 7 and 12.5 tonnes.