LAZ: The Lviv Bus Plant from Truck Cranes to CityLAZ
LAZ, the Lviv Bus Plant in western Ukraine, was founded in 1945 and built its first bus, the rear-engined LAZ-695, in February 1956. That design stayed in production in Lviv until 2002, next to the 697 Tourist and 699 Karpaty coaches. Privatisation in the early 2000s brought the CityLAZ range and a large Euro 2012 order, but operations stopped in October 2014.
Key takeaways
- Founded in 1945; the first products, from 1949, were truck cranes, vans and trailers rather than buses.
- The LAZ-695 had a rear-mounted engine and an integral body, a first for Soviet buses, and was built in Lviv from 1956 to 2002.
- More than 250,000 LAZ-695s were made across the B, E, M and N versions; exact totals differ between sources.
- Operations stopped in October 2014; a new owner was reported in April 2025, with no confirmed restart of production.
The Lviv Bus Plant at a glance
LAZ is a Ukrainian bus and coach maker based in Lviv, best known for the LAZ-695 city bus and its long family of derivatives. Key facts as of October 2026:
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Full name | Lviv Bus Plant (LAZ) |
| Location | Lviv, Ukraine; site of about 56 ha (138 acres) |
| Founded | 1945 (21 May 1945 is the date usually given) |
| First production | 1949: truck cranes, vans, trailers |
| Products | City buses, coaches, trolleybus bodies |
| Best-known model | LAZ-695, built 1956–2002 in Lviv |
| Ownership | State plant; controlling stake sold to a private investor in the early 2000s |
| Status | Operations stopped in October 2014; new owner reported in April 2025, production restart not confirmed |
The LAZ catalogue on 1cars lists the models with their own spec pages.
1945–1955: truck cranes and vans before the first bus
LAZ did not start as a bus factory. Construction of a new automobile plant in Lviv began in 1945, and production started in 1949 with truck cranes on the ZIS-150 chassis, vans, trailers, market stalls and a single electric vehicle.
The turn towards buses came in 1955. The plant was told to build the ZIS-155, a bonneted city bus from the ZIS works, later ZIL. Instead, the Lviv engineers developed a bus of their own, and the first prototype, named "Lviv", was completed on 12 February 1956, eleven years after the plant was founded. Series production followed in 1956–57; sources differ on the exact start.
The LAZ-695: a rear-engined bus built for 46 years
The LAZ-695 is the bus that defined the plant. Its engine sat longitudinally at the rear and drove the rear wheels, and the body was self-supporting, built from extruded profiles instead of being mounted on a truck chassis. Both features were firsts for a Soviet bus. Suspension used leaf springs, and a typical 695N carried 34 seated and 26 standing passengers.
Engines from ZIL
Every early LAZ-695 used a ZIL petrol engine. The first version had the ZIL-158 inline-six with 70 kW (95 PS), and the 695B of 1958 had 80 kW (109 PS). From the 695E onwards the bus used the 6.0-litre V8 of the ZIL-130 truck, rated at 110 kW (150 PS) and 402 N·m. A diesel version, the 695D of 1995–96, used the 11.15-litre YaMZ-236 V6 with 132–143 kW (180–195 PS), and a natural-gas 695NG appeared in 1985–86.
LAZ-695N specifications
| Parameter | Metric | Imperial |
|---|---|---|
| Engine | ZIL-130 petrol V8, 6.0 L | 366 cu in |
| Power | 110 kW (150 PS) | 147.5 hp |
| Torque | 402 N·m | 296 lb-ft |
| Layout | Rear engine, rear-wheel drive, integral body | |
| Length | 9,190–9,220 mm | 361.8–363.0 in |
| Width | 2,500 mm | 98.4 in |
| Height | 3,050–3,120 mm | 120.1–122.8 in |
| Wheelbase | 4,190 mm | 165.0 in |
| Kerb weight | 6,800 kg | 14,991 lb |
| Capacity | 34 seated, 60 in total |
Dimensions vary slightly between sources and versions; early B and E buses weighed about 6,330 kg (13,955 lb).
The four main versions
The 695 changed in steps rather than generations. The front end, the number and shape of the engine air intakes and the interior were revised, but the basic body stayed recognisable throughout.
| Version | Years | Built (German sources) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAZ-695B | May 1958–1964 | 16,718 | Uprated 80 kW (109 PS) engine |
| LAZ-695E | 1963–1969 | 37,916 | ZIL-130 V8; 1,346 exported |
| LAZ-695M | 1969/70–1976 | 52,077 | 164 exported |
| LAZ-695N | 1976–2002 | More than 170,000 (English sources: about 160,000) | Longest-running version |
Totals for the whole family are quoted as more than 250,000 in English sources and more than 280,000 in German ones. The safe figure is "more than 250,000". The 695N's 1976 start date also explains why some catalogues list the LAZ-695 as a 1976–2002 model: the bus itself dates from 1956.
Tourist coaches: the LAZ-697 and LAZ-699 Karpaty
LAZ built two families of coaches on the same rear-engined principle. The LAZ-697 Tourist followed a prototype of September 1958 and was in series production from 1959 to 1985. It had 33 seats, started with the 80 kW (109 PS) ZIL-158 engine and moved to the 110 kW (150 PS) ZIL-130 V8. Its versions ran from the 697E (1961–69) through the 697M and 697N to the 697R of 1978–85. The coach was shown at the Geneva Motor Show in 1960, and a Soviet postage stamp of the same year featured it.
The larger LAZ-699 Karpaty began with two prototypes in December 1960, each with 41 seats, but production was postponed until 1964. The early 699A was built in small numbers, the 699N followed (sources date its start between 1969 and 1975), and the 699R ran from 1978 to 2002. It used the 7.0-litre (427 cu in) ZIL-375 V8, quoted at 132 kW (180 PS) or 129 kW (175 PS) depending on the source.
In 1967 LAZ built 15 coaches named "Ukraina-67" for a French tender. They received awards from the French tourism ministry, but no large export order followed.
Trolleybuses, gas buses and other 695 derivatives
The 695 body was adapted for electric traction early on. Trolleybuses based on it include the BT-62 built in Baku in 1962, ten LAZ-695T trolleybuses made in 1963–64, 75 Kyiv-5LA built in Kyiv, and 476 OdAZ-695T made in Odesa in 1963–65.
Other derivatives followed the market of the day: the 695NG ran on natural gas from 1985–86, the 695D diesel arrived in the mid-1990s, and special-purpose versions were built in small series. When production in Lviv ended in 2002, the 695 moved to DAZ in Kamianske. Sources differ on when it finally stopped there, giving 2008 for complete buses and 2010–11 for bodies and spare parts.
1976–1991: the 695N era and the LAZ-4207
The late Soviet period at LAZ was dominated by the 695N, introduced in 1976 and built until 2002. It became the most numerous version, with production estimates between 160,000 and more than 170,000.
The plant's main new model of the 1980s was the LAZ-4207, built from 1984 to 2002. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 cut off LAZ's funding, and production was halted for a time because of low demand.
After 1991: privatisation, Liner and CityLAZ
LAZ rebuilt its range in the 1990s and 2000s. The LAZ-5252 city bus ran from 1992 to 2006, with the 52522 version from 1993. The A141 Liner-9 coach followed in 1997 and stayed in production until 2012. In the early 2000s the State Property Fund sold a controlling stake to a private investor, and the line-up widened:
- A291 city bus, 2001–2005.
- A183 CityLAZ-12 low-floor city bus, 2004–2012, with an AeroLAZ AX183D airport version in 2005.
- A292 CityLAZ-20 articulated bus, 2007–2011.
- A191 InterLAZ-12LE low-entry intercity bus, 2007–2013.
Other Ukrainian makers took different paths after 1991, among them the Lutsk plant, Bogdan, KrAZ and ZAZ.
Euro 2012, the 2014 shutdown and the 2025 ownership change
The Euro 2012 football championship gave LAZ its last big contract. The Ukrainian government ordered 2,500 CityLAZ buses with an option for 800 more, and in 2012 the plant presented the LAZ 695 Soyuz, the LAZ 4207 DM and a CNG version of the A183.
The order did not secure the company's future. Operations stopped in October 2014, and a few thousand employees lost their jobs. Available sources describe a halt in operations rather than a formal bankruptcy.
According to Lviv press reports, in April 2025 Lvivinvestaktyv, an investment company from Ivano-Frankivsk, became the plant's majority owner after paying its debts. No restart of bus production has been reported. The future of the roughly 56 ha (138 acre) site remains open; Lviv city council has repeatedly opposed housing development there.
LAZ timeline
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1945 | Construction of the Lviv plant begins |
| 1949 | Production starts: truck cranes, vans, trailers |
| 1955 | Plant assigned ZIS-155 production, develops its own bus instead |
| 1956 | First LAZ-695 prototype, 12 February; series production from 1956–57 |
| 1958–59 | LAZ-695B; LAZ-697 Tourist prototype (September 1958), series from 1959 |
| 1960 | LAZ-697 at the Geneva Motor Show; LAZ-699 Karpaty prototypes |
| 1962 | BT-62 trolleybus built on the 695 body |
| 1963 | LAZ-695E with the ZIL-130 V8 |
| 1964 | LAZ-699 production begins |
| 1967 | 15 "Ukraina-67" coaches for a French tender |
| 1976 | LAZ-695N introduced |
| 1984 | LAZ-4207 enters production |
| 1991 | Soviet collapse; funding lost, production halted for a time |
| Early 2000s | Controlling stake sold to a private investor |
| 2002 | LAZ-695 and LAZ-699R production ends in Lviv |
| 2012 | Euro 2012 order: 2,500 CityLAZ buses plus an 800-bus option |
| 2014 | Operations stop in October |
| 2025 | New majority owner reported in April |
Landmark LAZ buses
| Model | Years | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| LAZ-695 | 1956–2002 (Lviv) | First Soviet bus with a rear engine and integral body |
| LAZ-695E | 1963–1969 | Introduced the ZIL-130 V8 |
| LAZ-695N | 1976–2002 | Most numerous version, more than 160,000 built |
| LAZ-697 Tourist | 1959–1985 | Tourist coach shown at Geneva in 1960 |
| LAZ-699 Karpaty | 1964–2002 | Larger 41-seat coach with a ZIL-375 V8 |
| LAZ-4207 | 1984–2002 | Main new model of the 1980s |
| A141 Liner-9 | 1997–2012 | Post-Soviet coach |
| A183 CityLAZ-12 | 2004–2012 | Low-floor city bus behind the Euro 2012 order |
| A191 InterLAZ-12LE | 2007–2013 | Low-entry intercity bus |
The LAZ range: what was built and when
No LAZ model is in confirmed production in October 2026, so the table below is a reference list of the main historic models.
| Model | Segment | Body | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAZ-695 | City and suburban bus | Rigid, integral | 1956–2002 (ended) |
| LAZ-697 Tourist | Tourist coach | Rigid, integral | 1959–1985 (ended) |
| LAZ-699 Karpaty | Tourist and intercity coach | Rigid, integral | 1964–2002 (ended) |
| LAZ-4207 | Intercity bus | Rigid | 1984–2002 (ended) |
| LAZ-5252 / 52522 | City bus | Rigid | 1992–2006 (ended) |
| A141 Liner-9 | Coach | Rigid | 1997–2012 (ended) |
| A291 | City bus | Rigid | 2001–2005 (ended) |
| A183 CityLAZ-12 | City bus | Rigid, low-floor | 2004–2012 (ended) |
| A292 CityLAZ-20 | City bus | Articulated | 2007–2011 (ended) |
| A191 InterLAZ-12LE | Intercity bus | Rigid, low-entry | 2007–2013 (ended) |
LAZ in numbers
LAZ production figures are best documented for the 695 family:
- More than 250,000 LAZ-695s in total (German sources say more than 280,000).
- 16,718 LAZ-695B, 37,916 LAZ-695E and 52,077 LAZ-695M, according to German sources.
- 1,346 LAZ-695E and 164 LAZ-695M exported.
- 46 years of LAZ-695 production in Lviv, 1956–2002.
- 476 OdAZ-695T and 75 Kyiv-5LA trolleybuses on the 695 body.
- 2,500 CityLAZ buses ordered for Euro 2012, plus an option for 800.
- About 56 ha (138 acres): the size of the former plant site.
FAQ
When was LAZ founded?
LAZ was founded in 1945, when construction of the Lviv plant began; 21 May 1945 is the date usually given. Production started in 1949 with truck cranes, vans and trailers, and the first bus prototype followed in February 1956.
What engine did the LAZ-695 use?
Most LAZ-695s used the ZIL-130 petrol V8 of 6.0 litres, rated at 110 kW (150 PS). The first buses had the ZIL-158 inline-six with 70 kW (95 PS) and the 695B 80 kW (109 PS); a 695D diesel with the YaMZ-236 V6 came in the mid-1990s.
How many LAZ-695 were built?
More than 250,000 LAZ-695s were built, and German sources give more than 280,000. The 695N alone accounts for 160,000 to more than 170,000, depending on the source.
Who owns LAZ today?
Lviv press reports from April 2025 name Lvivinvestaktyv, an investment company from Ivano-Frankivsk, as the majority owner after it paid the plant's debts. The plant had been state-owned until a controlling stake was sold to a private investor in the early 2000s.
Is LAZ still producing buses?
No restart has been confirmed. Operations stopped in October 2014, and the 2025 ownership change was not accompanied by any announcement of new bus production.
What is the LAZ-699 Karpaty?
The LAZ-699 Karpaty is a 41-seat coach that LAZ built from 1964 to 2002. It followed prototypes of December 1960 and used the 7.0-litre ZIL-375 V8, quoted at 129–132 kW (175–180 PS).
