Moskvitch

OAO Moskvitch

Abandoned Moskvitch headquarters
Type	Government-owned (1929-1991), privately owned (1991-2010)
Industry	Automotive
Fate	Bankrupt since 2002 Dissolved in 2006
Predecessor	AZLK
Successor	None. Partial recuperation of former production factories by Avtoframos (Russian subsidiary of Renault) since 2008
Founded	1929
Headquarters	Moscow, Russia
Products	cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, sports vehicles, vans
Website	Official OAO "Moskvich" Website

Moskvitch (Russian: Москвич) (also written as Moskvich, Moskvič or Moskwitsch) was a Soviet/Russian automobile brand produced by AZLK from 1946 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2001. The current article incorporates information about both the brand and the successor of AZLK for the sake of simplicity.

OAO Moskvitch was a privatized venture name given to the former factory in order to avoid legal issues after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since the factory had no assembly branches outside Russia after 1991, its name is largely used today to refer to the building located in the lower eastern part of Moscow and abandoned since 2006.

The word moskvich (Russian: москвич) itself translates as "a native of Moscow, a Moscower". It was used to point out the original location of the cars manufactured in the capital of Russia, Moscow.

In 1929 the construction of Moscow Automotive Plant began with initial production of 24,000 vehicles. Between 1940 and 1941, it built the two-door compact car KIM 10-50 and its "Phaeton" version KIM 10-51. In 1941, after having produced less than 1,000 units, the plant was evacuated to Ural and the entire production converted for the manufacture of military equipment after Hitler's invasion during World War II. After the war, the production of the KIM cars was not resumed, and instead the Soviet Union acquired an Opel manufacturing line from Brandenburg in Soviet occupation zone of Germany to manufacture the modified Opel Kadett under the name Moskvitch-400 in December 1946. In the 1950s and afterwards the factory, now called MZMA (Moskovsky Zavod Malolitrazhnykh Avtomobiley, that is, Moscow Compact Car Factory), replaced it with its own cars developed by Soviet engineers: the second post-war generation consisting of the Moskvitch-402–407 and 410, then by the more advanced Moskvitch 408, 412 and 2140. The M-407 was the first Soviet automotive export to be truly successful in the West. Up to half of all M-407 production was exported for a number of years, mainly to the Eastern Bloc countries, Norway, Finland, and France. Later models also proved a good value in Great Britain, Finland, and Norway, for instance, and in 1968, 55% of production was for export. In 1969, the factory changed its name to AZLK (Avtomobilny Zavod imeni Leninskogo Komsomola, which means Automobile Factory in honor of Komsomol Leninist Communist Youth Union).