Zavod Imeni Likhocheva

AMO ZiL (Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo - Zavod Imeni Likhachova)

ZiL (Zavod Imeni Likhachova)
Formerly called	AMO (1916-1931) ZiS (1931-1956)
Type
Industry	Automotive
Fate	Production ended in 2012
Founded	Moscow, Russia (1916 (1916))
Headquarters	Moscow, Russia
Key people	Igor Zakharov (CEO) Konstantin Laptev (General Director, 2002–present)
Products	Luxury automobiles Heavy road vehicles Offroad vehicles Military vehicles
Website	www.amo-zil.ru

AMO ZiL, known fully as the Moscow Automotive Society – Likhachov Plant (Russian: Автомобильное Московское Общество – Завод имени Лихачёва, translit. Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo – Zavod imeni Likhachova) and more commonly called ZiL (Russian: ЗиЛ), was a major Russian automobile, truck, military vehicle, and heavy equipment manufacturer based in the city of Moscow, Russia.

The last ZiL vehicle was assembled in 2012. The company continues to exist only as real-estate development site, on which a new urban district will be built by the LSR Group construction company.

The factory was founded in 1916 as the Moscow Automotive Society (AMO) (Russian: Автомобильное Московское Общество (АМО), translit. Avtomobilnoe Moskovskoe Obshchestvo (AMO). The plans were to produce Fiat F-15 1.5 tonne trucks under licence. Because of the October Revolution and the subsequent Russian Civil War it took until 1 November 1924 to produce the first vehicle, the AMO-F-15.

In 1931 the factory was re-equipped and expanded with the help of the American A.J. Brandt Co., and changed its name to Automotive Factory No. 2 Zavod Imeni Stalina (ZIS or ZiS). After Nikita Khrushchev denounced the cult of personality of Joseph Stalin in 1956, the name was changed again to Zavod imeni Likhachova, after its former director Ivan Alekseevich Likhachov.

ZiL lanes—road lanes dedicated to vehicles carrying top Soviet officials—were named after the car.