A. A. Zhdanov Pavlovo Bus Plant

The history of the plant dates from 1930, when a car and tractor equipment plant (ZATI) was founded in the town of Pavlovo. It made equipment and parts for the Gorky Automobile Plant.

In 1952 it became a bus plant, and the first 5 PAZ-651 buses were completed on 5 August 1952. At first the plant built the PAZ-651, based on GAZ-51 units, while its staff designed a new forward-control bus, the PAZ-652, also using GAZ-51 units. The PAZ-652 went into production in 1958.

In 1968 the PAZ-652 was replaced by the PAZ-672, a forward-control bus using GAZ-53 units. Several hundred thousand of these were built until 1989, and PAZ buses were also widely used in Estonia. The four-wheel-drive PAZ-3201 was also built on the PAZ-672.

In 1989 the new PAZ-3205 went into production, still the plant's main model today. Around a thousand of these still leave the Pavlovo plant every month. The plant also builds the PAZ-3202, -3203 and -3204 on the GAZ-3310, the four-wheel-drive PAZ-3206 version of the PAZ-3205, the low-floor PAZ-3237 city bus and the PAZ-4230 "Aurora" mid-size bus.

The plant's awards include the Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1971, the Order of the Badge of Honour in 1982, and a gold cup and first prize at the 1969 Nice international bus fair for the PAZ-Turist Lux.

Since 2001 the plant has been part of the GAZ Group, with current annual output of up to 14,000 buses. The half-millionth PAZ was built in 1998, and the 600,000th is expected in 2007.

The plant holds ISO 9001 quality management certification and, with more than 5000 employees, is the largest employer in the town of Pavlovo.