GAZ GAZon Next

GAZon Next at a glance

The GAZon Next is GAZ's medium truck for regional distribution, municipal work and general haulage, positioned above the light vans and below heavy trucks. GAZ Group launched it as the replacement for the GAZ-3307 family, which had been in production since 1989, and as the heavier partner to the GAZelle Next light commercial range unveiled earlier in 2014.

The basic truck has two axles and a 4x2 drivetrain: the engine sits at the front, under a conventional cab, and drives the rear axle. That point matters because catalogue listings sometimes describe the GAZon Next as four-wheel drive. Only the Sadko Next, a separate member of the family, has a driven front axle.

The truck is sold as a chassis or with a flatbed, and a long list of factory and converter bodies has been built on it. GAZ itself speaks of more than 300 model variants, a figure that counts combinations of cab, wheelbase, body and equipment rather than different trucks.

From GAZ-3307 to GAZon Next

The GAZon Next was developed to replace a design whose roots went back several decades. The GAZ-3307 entered series production in 1989, and its chassis and engine layout were derived from the earlier GAZ-53. The diesel GAZ-3309 followed in late 1994. Encyclopaedic sources put GAZ-3307 output at more than 1.5 million trucks over 31 years.

GAZ Group announced the new truck in 2014, after the GAZelle Next van, and series production of the GAZon Next began on 19 September 2014, according to a launch report published the same day. GAZ named Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa as export targets. The first export market was Georgia: on 15 December 2014 GAZ Group announced the start of sales there, with the GAZon Next and its YaMZ-534 diesel in the line-up.

The family was meant to grow quickly. A trade report on the launch said the off-road Sadko Next would follow in 2015 as the four-wheel-drive version. For several years the old and new trucks were built side by side, until GAZ-3307 and GAZ-3309 production ended in January 2020.

Cab, frame and suppliers

The GAZon Next is a frame-type truck with the engine at the front, offered as a chassis cab for a wide range of bodies. Two cab sizes are offered. The single-row cab seats three in a 2+1 arrangement, and the double-row crew cab seats seven, which suits municipal crews and utility companies.

Load space was one of the main targets. GAZ quoted a 20% larger loading area and 42% more volume under the canopy than its previous medium trucks, together with about 500 kg more payload. These are manufacturer comparisons rather than independent measurements.

Much of the hardware came from international suppliers. The launch report lists ZF for the steering and clutch, Tenneco for the shock absorbers, Wabco for braking components, CSA of Castellón for the steering column, Takata for the seat belts and Delphi for the heating and air-conditioning system. Older descriptions that credit the brakes to a different supplier do not match these sources.

Wheelbases, height and the City version

Two wheelbases are listed: 3,770 mm (148.4 in) for the standard truck and 4,515 mm (177.8 in) for the long version, giving overall lengths of 6,450 mm (253.9 in) and 7,195 mm (283.3 in). Height varies between 2,335 and 2,400 mm (91.9 and 94.5 in) with wheel size. The GAZon Next City uses a lower overall height and a lower loading edge, which makes kerbside loading easier in delivery work. It is available on both wheelbases.

The YaMZ-534 diesel and five-speed gearbox

The GAZon Next is powered by the YaMZ-534, a four-cylinder turbocharged diesel from the YaMZ engine plant, listed in German sources as the JaMZ-53441. It displaces 4,430 cc (270.3 cu in) from a bore and stroke of 105 x 128 mm (4.13 x 5.04 in) and has a compression ratio of 17.5:1.

Output is 109.5 kW (149 PS), or about 147 hp, with a maximum torque of 490 N·m (361 lb-ft). The launch report described this as a rise from 136 to 149 PS compared with GAZ's previous models. The engine meets the Euro IV emissions standard.

Power goes to the rear axle through a five-speed manual gearbox. German sources note that first gear is not synchronised, a common arrangement in trucks where first is used mainly for starting off fully loaded or on a gradient. Top speed is quoted as 110 km/h (68.4 mph), and fuel consumption as 18.0 L/100 km (13.1 mpg US / 15.7 mpg imp) at a steady 80 km/h (50 mph). Both figures come from a single source family, so they are best treated as reference values rather than certified test results.

Some catalogues also list a 3.8-litre Cummins diesel for this truck. That engine is documented for the earlier GAZ-3307 family, but no source used here confirms it for the GAZon Next, so it is not included.

GAZon Next specifications

The table covers the standard short-wheelbase GAZon Next with the YaMZ-534 engine. The dimensions and weights come mainly from one encyclopaedic source family; engine type, power and payload are confirmed independently by the 2014 launch report.

Payload figures vary with body and market. The data sheet gives 4,870 kg, GAZ spoke of about 5 tonnes at launch, and some export listings show lower values, so the exact figure for a given truck depends on its body and equipment. Ground-clearance figures also differ between sources and are not quoted here.

GAZon Next variants and the Sadko Next

The GAZon Next family is built around one cab design, two wheelbases and two cab sizes, with the City and the four-wheel-drive Sadko Next as distinct branches. Factory codes such as C41R13 and C42R33 identify the configurations, although the codes are not used consistently across sources.

Sadko Next: the four-wheel-drive branch

The Sadko Next is the all-wheel-drive member of the family and the successor to the GAZ-3308, which belongs to the GAZ-Sadko line. It carries the Next name with a driven front axle and deserves a separate page. Specifications for it are not given here, because the sources consulted describe it only in outline.

In service: operation, warranty and legacy

The GAZon Next was designed for the everyday work its predecessors did: deliveries, municipal services, utilities and small-business haulage. At launch GAZ offered a warranty of three years or 150,000 km (93,206 miles) and quoted service intervals of up to 20,000 km (12,427 miles), both company figures.

Independent reliability data is not available. No published owner surveys, fleet statistics or recall records were found for the GAZon Next in the English and German sources used for this page, so it makes no claims about durability. What the record does show is a production run from 2014 and a broad range of bodies built on the chassis.

The truck also carries on a name. GAZ's medium trucks have been nicknamed "GAZon" for generations, a line that includes the GAZ-52, the GAZ-53 and the 3307 family. Readers interested in the wider story of the company can turn to GAZ company history, and the GAZ-Valday is another GAZ medium truck covered on this site. The truck is also listed among other trucks and all GAZ models.