Minsk Automobile Plant

The Minsk Automobile Plant was established on the basis of former car repair workshops by decree of the State Defence Committee of 9 August 1944. At the end of 1947 the plant delivered its first products – five MAZ-205 tippers; series production began in Minsk the following year, 1948. Production of the MAZ-200 flatbed began in 1950 and of the MAZ-200V tractor unit in 1952. In 1950 a batch of MAZ-205 tippers was sent to the Polish People's Republic as a gift to the Polish people for rebuilding Warsaw, and the same year production of the MAZ-525 tipper with a 25-tonne payload began. In 1958 an even larger tipper, the 40-tonne MAZ-530, won the highest award, the Grand Prix, at the World's Fair in Brussels.

November 1958 was a turning point in the plant's history – the first prototypes of the MAZ-500 flatbed and MAZ-503 tipper were completed. On 31 December 1965 the last MAZ-200 series truck left the assembly line – a MAZ-205 tipper, which was placed on a plinth. The plant switched entirely to MAZ-500 series trucks. In 1966 the four-wheel-drive MAZ-509 timber truck went into production, and in 1968 the three-axle MAZ-516 flatbed (with a non-driven rear axle that can be raised when running empty). In September 1970 series production of the modernised MAZ-500A began; externally it differs from its predecessor in its different grille with eight openings. All other existing MAZ-500 versions (MAZ-503 tipper, MAZ-504 tractor unit and others) were from then on built on the MAZ-500A. From 1977 these were replaced by the MAZ-5335 series (MAZ-5335 flatbed, MAZ-5549 tipper, MAZ-5428 and MAZ-5429 tractor units).

The four-axle prime movers built by the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ-535, MAZ-543/-7310 and others) were highly valued not only by the military but also by oil drillers, geologists and builders in the remote regions of Siberia and Central Asia. In 1975 production of heavy-duty tippers was transferred to the Belarus and Mogilev automobile plants, formed on the basis of the "AvtoMAZ" association (which also included the Minsk Automobile Plant).

A new stage in the plant's development began on 19 May 1981, when the first tractor unit of the new series, the MAZ-5432, left the assembly line, followed a little later by the 3-axle MAZ-6422. In the mid-1980s production of the MAZ-5337 flatbed, the MAZ-5433 tractor unit and the MAZ-5551 tipper began. All of these differ from earlier models in their square cab, the last three using a shorter cab without a sleeping berth.

In 1988 the first three-axle tractor unit with a diesel engine from the West German company MAN was shown at the Hamburg International Motor Show. On 14 April 1989 the plant built its millionth vehicle, a MAZ-64221 tractor unit, and at the same time preparations began for a major expansion of three-axle tractor unit production.

Bus production began in 1992 and trolleybus production in 1999. In 1997 the first tractor unit meeting European international haulage requirements, the MAZ-54421, was completed.

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