Moskvich and AZLK: History, Landmark Models and Revival

Moskvich at a glance

Moskvich is a car brand from the Soviet Union (USSR) whose plant traded as KIM, MZMA, AZLK and finally OAO Moskvitch before bankruptcy, and which was relaunched in 2022 on the former site. Key facts as of October 2026:

Origins: from KIM to MZMA

Moskvich grew out of the KIM assembly plant, built around 1930 and named after the Young Communist International. Its first work was assembling Ford Model A cars and Model AA trucks from Ford-licensed kits, the same licence that shaped the early vehicles of GAZ. In 1933 KIM became a branch of GAZ, whose GAZ-AA truck was itself a licensed Ford AA.

The plant's first small car was the KIM-10. Only 338 were built between November 1940 and April 1941, so it is a footnote rather than a production model. In August 1945 the plant was renamed MZMA, a factory for small cars, and given a new task: building a compact saloon for private owners.

1946–1963: the Kadett-based 400 and the first exports

The first car to carry the Moskvich name was the Moskvich 400, first built on 9 December 1946 and based on the pre-war Opel Kadett K38. Its tooling is reportedly reconstructed from Opel's, and an independent University of Illinois history page calls the car a replica of the Kadett. Mass production was approved on 28 April 1947.

The improved 401 followed in 1954, with its output usually quoted as 19 kW (26 PS) against the 400's 17 kW (23 PS). The two models together reached 247,439 cars before the saloon ended on 20 April 1956.

The 402 and 407: Moskvich's own designs

The 402 of 1956 was the first Moskvich not based on a foreign model. It brought independent front suspension with double wishbones and 12-volt electrics, and 94,080 were built, 18,019 of them for export. A four-wheel-drive version, the 410, was made in 1957–58.

The Moskvich 407 of 1958 brought a 1.36-litre (83 cu in) overhead-valve engine. It was built until October 1963, and 359,980 were made, 120,903 of them for export. English-language references call it the first truly successful Soviet export in the West. In Western Europe it was sold as the Elite, and from 1962–64 it was assembled in Belgium by Scaldia. The Moskvich 403, which followed it, ran until July 1965 and reached 133,523 cars.

1964–1975: the 408, the 412 and the export push

The Moskvich 408, launched in 1964, was a new saloon with a 1,357 cc (82.8 cu in) engine of 37 kW (50 PS). The 100,000th car was built on 20 August 1966, and 55% of the plant's 1968 output went abroad. From 1969 the car gained safety equipment that English-language references describe as a first for a Soviet car.

Exports reached the Eastern Bloc and Western countries such as Norway, Finland, France, Britain and Belgium. Two foreign partners assembled cars from kits: Scaldia in Belgium took the 408 from 1965, and Balkancar in Bulgaria built Rila-badged versions of the 408, 412, 2140 and 2141 between 1966 and 1990. On 18 May 1967 the plant built its one-millionth car, and in October 1968 MZMA was renamed AZLK, the Lenin Komsomol Automobile Plant.

The UZAM-412 engine

The Moskvich 412 of 1967 put a new engine into the 408 body. The UZAM-412, designed by Igor Okunev, is a 1,478 cc (90.2 cu in) inline four with an aluminium block, a single overhead camshaft and an output of 55 kW (75 PS). The first production engine was made on 15 March 1966 by UZAM, the engine plant that gave it its name.

AZLK built the 412 saloon until 1975, while IzhAvto built its own Izh-412 version from 1967 to 1982. In Britain the importer SATRA Motors sold the car, badged Moskvitch 1500 from 1974. By August 1974 the plant had reached two million cars.

Motorsport and engineering firsts

Long-distance rallies gave Moskvich its best documented international results. In the 1968 London–Sydney Marathon a 412 finished 20th, and in the 1970 London–Mexico World Cup Rally the best factory 412 finished 12th overall. The 412 is also credited with a 1-2-3 in the 1973 Avon Round Britain Rally and a class win in the 1973 Safari Rally, results recorded in one source family only.

The engineering firsts are the aluminium overhead-camshaft UZAM-412 and the 1969 safety upgrade of the 408 and 412. Claims of wins on the Monte Carlo or overall Safari results do not appear in the sources checked and are left out here.

1976–2002: the 2140, the Aleko and the end of AZLK

The Moskvich 2140 replaced the 412 in January 1976 and stayed in production until July 1988. It was a development of the 412 and kept its 1.5-litre engine of 55 kW (75 PS). A 1.36-litre version, the 2138, ran until 1982, and the better-equipped 2140 SL arrived in 1981. Export cars were badged 1500 and 1500 SL.

The 2141 Aleko changed the layout completely. Announced in 1985 and sold from 1986, it was a front-wheel-drive five-door hatchback, powered at first by the 1.5-litre UZAM-331.10 among other engines. Its shape is often compared with the Simca 1307; according to its designers, only the roof area was carried over. Later developments, the Svyatogor and the 2142 saloon family, were built between 1997 and 2002.

None of these later models reached the volume of the 408, 412 or 2140. After privatisation as OAO Moskvitch in the early 1990s, production stopped around 2001–02. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2002, was declared bankrupt in 2006 and was liquidated in 2007.

Ownership changes, plants and Renault

Moskvich passed from state plant to private company to bankruptcy, while part of its site was used by Renault from 1999 to 2022. Renault's link with the plant goes back to an agreement signed in 1966. In 1998 Renault and the city government set up the Avtoframos joint venture, which began assembling Renault cars in April 1999 on part of the former AZLK site. Renault became the sole owner at the end of 2012.

Renault sold its stake in the plant to the city administration in May 2022. The plant was then restarted under the Moskvich name. Throughout its history the brand also relied on foreign assembly, through Scaldia in Belgium and Balkancar in Bulgaria.

The revival since 2022

Moskvich has existed again as a brand since 2022, using Chinese-designed vehicles assembled on the former site. The new range was presented on 6 July 2022. Assembly of the Moskvich 3 from imported kits began on 23 November 2022, and the car went on sale on 26 December 2022.

The Moskvich 3 is a rebadged JAC Sehol X4, a compact crossover made by JAC in China. It has a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine of about 110 kW (150 PS); the electric Moskvich 3e has 142 kW (193 PS), a 65.7 kWh battery and a claimed range of 410 km (255 mi). Further models are listed in reference sources, but their status could not be confirmed with manufacturer data as of October 2026.

Landmark models

Eight models trace the arc of Moskvich, from the Kadett-based 400 to the Chinese-based 3. The catalogue of all Moskvich models has specifications for each.

Moskvich timeline

These are the dated milestones of the plant and the brand, from Ford kit assembly to the 2022 relaunch.

Model line-up

The table lists the main production models of the original company and the revived brand; the post-2022 entries are as listed in October 2026.

Moskvich in numbers

Moskvich production passed five million cars over about 55 years of original production. The key figures are below:

• One-millionth car: 18 May 1967.
• Two-millionth car: August 1974.
• Moskvich 400 and 401 together: 247,439 cars.
• Moskvich 402: 94,080 cars, 18,019 exported.
• Moskvich 407: 359,980 cars, 120,903 exported.
• Moskvich 403: 133,523 cars.
• Share of 1968 output exported: 55%.
• Total of the original company: over 5 million cars.