IMZ-Ural
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| Private | |
| Industry | Recreational vehicles |
| Founded | 1941 |
| Founder | Soviet Government |
| Headquarters | Irbit, SVE, Russia |
| Products | Motorcycles |
| Website | IMZ-Ural.com |
IMZ-Ural (Irbit Motorcycles Plant <<Ural>>) (Russian: Ирбитский мотоциклетный завод, tr. Irbitskiy Mototsikletniy Zavod) is a Russian maker of heavy sidecar motorcycles.
In 1940, the Soviet Union acquired the design and production techniques for BMW R71 motorcycles and sidecars. The first M-72 model was finished in 1941. Originally, factories were to be located in Moscow, Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), and Kharkov, but due to the approach of Nazi German troops, the Moscow facilities were moved to Irbit, and the Leningrad and Kharkov facilities to Gorkiy (now called Nizhny Novgorod).
A similar design is the Soviet (now Ukrainian) Dnepr motorcycle. Both Ural and Dnepr motorcycles are sometimes known by the generic name, "Cossack motorcycles," which was used between 1973 and 1979 by SATRA in the United Kingdom.
Plans for the M-72 were later sold to the Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation, a Chinese industrial firm, to build the Chang Jiang.
The origins of the IMZ-Ural are linked to developments in the Eastern Front during World War II. The Soviet Union was preparing for possible military action by Nazi Germany. Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet military to prepare in all possible areas, including the ground forces that would be defending the Soviet Union against invading German panzer tanks, storm troopers, and special forces. Mobility was especially stressed after the Soviet Union had witnessed the effect of the blitzkrieg on Poland.
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Wikipedia