Moskvitch

Moskvitch or Moskvich (Russian: Москвич) (also written as Moskvich, Moskvič, or Moskwitsch) is a Soviet/Russian automobile brand produced by AZLK from 1946 to 1991 and by OAO Moskvitch from 1991 to 2001. Production later resumed in 2022. The current article incorporates information about both the brand and the joint-stock successor of AZLK.

OAO Moskvitch is the name of a privatized venture given to the former factory 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.

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

The Soviet Union initiated a series of five-year plans in 1928 under the rule of Joseph Stalin. The planning process aimed to rapidly industrialise the economy of the Soviet Union. Plans included provisions for developing domestic automobile production. It was assumed that by improving the quality of life for the affected citizens and providing them with the opportunity to learn to drive during peacetime, they would constitute a cadre of trained drivers for the Red Army in the event of armed conflict.

Industrial cooperation between Russia and the American Ford Motor Company (founded in 1903) dated back to the era of Russian emperor Nicholas II (r. 1894–1917), with the U.S. company being an important supplier of passenger- and commercial-vehicles such as tractors and trucks. This cooperation persisted despite the events and ideology of the October Revolution of November 1917, with tens of thousands of vehicles imported during the 1910s and 1920s. The Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia deemed importing necessary due to the devastation of the state and of its economic output following the Great War of 1914 to 1918, the Central Powers' occupation of Russian territories after 1918's Operation Faustschlag, and the Russian Civil War of 1917 to 1922.

The construction of the Moscow Car Assembly Factory (Russian: Московский автосборочный завод) began in 1929. In December 1930, the plant received the name of KIM (Factory named after the Young Communist International organization) Russian: КИМ (Завод имени Коммунистического Интернационала Молодёжи), from 1930 to 1939 its official name was Moscow Car Assembly Factory named after KIM (Russian: Московский автосборочный завод имени КИМ) and then from 1939 until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941 to 1945 it was called the Moscow Car Factory named after KIM (Russian: Московский автомобильный завод имени КИМ).

In 1930, the licensed production of Ford Model A and Ford Model AA vehicles began. These were assembled using knock-down kits. In 1933, the plant became a branch of GAZ and began to assemble GAZ-A and GAZ-AA vehicles. In 1939, KIM was no longer a subsidiary of GAZ and in the following year it started to produce its own first model, the KIM 10 inspired by the Ford Prefect. The plant's newly-formed design-department was headed by A. N. Ostrovtsev, an engineer from the NAMI, and tasked by the Economic Committee of Sovnarkom with designing a small economy car suitable for large-scale manufacture. From November 1940 to April 1941, 338 sedans were assembled. Exact production numbers for the phaeton version are unknown.

In May 1941 the Red Army subjected a KIM-10 to a series of tests, including in road conditions varying from the newly built Moscow-Minsk Highway to rural mud roads and off-road. Despite the official “mostly satisfactory” mark, the car proved to be unsuited to the requirements of the military service.