In Soviet Union The construction of the factory began in 1951. It was opened in 1955 as
LARZ (
Lutskyi Avtoremontnyi Zavod, Lutsk Automobile Repair Plant). The early products of this relatively small plant were the repair parts for
GAZ trucks. On September 3, 1959, the factory was renamed to
LuMZ (
Lutskyi Mashynobudivnyi Zavod, Lutsk Machine Building Plant). After the reconstruction the plants begins to produce mobile repair shop and refrigerated truck bodies on
Moskvitch,
ZIL, and
UAZ frames. The first civilian products suffered a reputation for poor quality, however, "for a time the LuAZ was the only car that could be bought off the shelf by Soviet motorists". In 1965, LuMZ starts the assembly of
ZAZ-969 originally developed at
Zaporizhzhia Automobile Building Plant. The first vehicle with an original design to be produced was the
LuAZ-967 amphibious vehicle for the
Red Army. It originated after the
Korean War, when the Soviets saw a need for small off-road vehicles comparable to the American
Willys MB, to supplement the overly-large and -heavy
GAZ-69s then in service. Developed at
NAMI (the National Automobile Institute), the prototype, known as
NAMI 049, was completed in 1958. On December 11, the plant was renamed to
LuAZ (
Lutskyi Avtomobilnyi Zavod,
Lutsk Automobile Plant) In 1975, LuAZ joined the newly formed
AvtoZAZ group. In 1979, the assembly of the new generation of ZAZ-969 begins. It received the name of LuAZ-969M and was widely known as 'Volynianka' (
Volhynian). The car received good reviews at the international motor shows. In 1982, LuAZ assembled their 100,000th car, and the next year the export production begins. In 1989, the factory assembled the LuAZ-1301
compact SUV prototype. In 1990, the plant reached its production record, assembling 16,500 cars in one year.
In independent Ukraine On 31 May 1993, the
Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine allowed to privatize LuAZ, and the document was approved in June 1996. On 27 July 1998 the factory was excluded from the list of strategically important companies and controlling stake of LuAZ is being put up on sale. In 1999 81% stake of the company was purchased by the Ukrprominvest Group of Oleksii and
Petro Poroshenko. After being acquired, the plant began the complete knock-down of Russian
UAZ and
VAZ vehicles. In 2002, LuAZ stops the production of its older models to replace them with LuAZ-1301 which development began back in late 1980's, the new
compact SUV concept gets launched at SIA-2002 motor show in
Kyiv. In 2005, Ukrprominvest formed the
Bogdan Corporation. LuAZ entered it alongside Cherkasy Autobus Plant which was owned by the group since late 1990's. The company started assembly of
Hyundai and
Kia cars from CKD kits. In 2006 Ukraine adopted the Euro-2 regulations, putting an end to the LuAZ-1301 project. In 2006, a new assembly line was opened at the plant to produce public transport vehicles. LuAZ stops being a separate brand and becomes a part of Bogdan Motors. In 2008, the reconstruction of the plant starts, and the next year it gets renamed to
Avtoskladalnyi Zavod #1 (Automobile Assembly Plant No. 1) with plans of expanding the production, however the reconstruction was soon put on hold due to the
2008–2009 Ukrainian financial crisis. In 2014 the equipment for production of former LuAZ cars was dismantled, and the company instead focused on assembling
buses and
trolleybuses. On July 7, 2020, Bogdan Motors went bankrupt for inability to pay the credit to
Ukreximbank. The Lutsk plant had stopped operation and was put up for sale. == Vehicles ==