ZIL (Likhachev Plant): From AMO Lorries to the Last Limousine

ZIL at a glance

ZIL was a state-owned vehicle plant that made medium trucks, all-wheel-drive trucks, buses and a small number of limousines, plus refrigerators and, for a time, bicycles. Its history covers three names for one factory: AMO, ZiS and ZIL. Key facts as of October 2026:

There is no parent company today. A small successor firm bought equipment at auction in 2016, and reports on whether it still operates differ.

From AMO to ZiS: Fiat copies and the Autocar rebuild

ZIL's origins lie in AMO, an automobile company founded on 2 August 1916 to assemble trucks under an order for 1,500 vehicles. The factory building was completed in 1917, and until the early 1920s the works mostly assembled and repaired imported Fiat trucks.

The first truck AMO built itself was the AMO-F-15, a copy of the Italian Fiat F-15. The first example was completed on 1 November 1924, and German-language sources describe it as the first series-built Soviet truck. In 1927 Ivan Likhachev became head of the plant, a post that later gave the factory its lasting name.

The real turning point came with an American design. A 1929 agreement set out to expand the plant for 2.5-tonne trucks based on Autocar models, and between 1929 and 1931 the works was re-equipped with the help of the US engineering firm A.J. Brandt Co. The AMO-2 of 1930 was a copy of the Autocar Dispatch. In 1931 the rebuilt plant was renamed ZiS, an abbreviation of a name that honoured the then head of state.

ZIL through the eras

ZIL history divides into six periods.

1916–1930: the AMO years

AMO spent its first decade assembling Fiat trucks and then copying one; the AMO-2 of 1930 bridged the move to Autocar designs.

1931–1945: ZiS and the ZIS-5

The ZIS-5 made the rebuilt plant a mass producer. Serial production began on 1 October 1933 (some sources say 1932). The truck used a 5.6-litre (5,557 cc, 339 cu in) inline-six of 54 kW (73 PS) and carried 3 tonnes (6,614 lb). About 1 million were built across all plants, 532,311 of them at ZiS itself. In 1934 the ZIS-5 became the first Soviet vehicle to be exported, with 100 trucks going to Turkey. The plant's first limousine, the ZIS-101, appeared in 1936.

1946–1961: ZIS-150, the ZIL name and the ZIL-157

After 1945 the plant moved to new designs. The ZIS-150 road truck arrived in 1947, the ZIS-151 in 1948, and ZIS-5 production at the main plant ended in April 1948. Production of the ZIS-110 limousine began in 1946. In 1956 the factory became ZIL, named after Likhachev. The ZIL-164 road truck followed in 1957, and in 1958 came two very different vehicles: the ZIL-157 6×6 truck and the ZIL-111 limousine.

1962–1985: the ZIL-130 years

The ZIL-130 defined ZIL for three decades. It was shown as a prototype in 1956, entered production in 1962 and reached full mass production in 1964, replacing the ZIL-164. Its 6.0-litre (366 cu in) V8 is rated at 110 kW (150 PS). The design was modernised in 1966 and 1977. The ZIL-131, a three-axle all-wheel-drive truck with a 5,000 kg (11,023 lb) road payload, followed in 1966/67, and the ZIL-114 limousine in 1967.

In the mid-1970s ZIL's ZIL-170 project was handed to the new KAMAZ plant. ZIL trained the newcomer's staff, and the KAMAZ-5320 took over the heavy-truck role ZIL had planned for itself. The ZIL-133, a three-axle 6×4 development of the 130, is dated to 1966 in some lists, while others give 1975 as its production start; the sources do not agree. In 1978 the ZIL-4104 limousine appeared.

1986–2003: ZIL-4331, privatisation and the Bychok

The ZIL-4331 succeeded the ZIL-130 in 1986. In 1992 the plant was privatised as the open joint-stock company AMO-ZIL. Development of a light truck began the same year, and the ZIL-5301 Bychok ("little bull") entered mass production in 1996 after about 200 pre-series examples. Bus production resumed in 1993. Output, however, kept falling: 16,458 vehicles in 2001 against a designed capacity of 200,000 trucks a year.

2004–2013: decline and closure

The last decade was a steady contraction. Management passed to a new owner group in 2003, and newer models such as the ZIL-433180 and ZIL-432930 (2003) and the ZIL-4334 (2004) appeared while overall output kept shrinking. Output was 6,954 vehicles in 2005 and 985 in 2012, the year truck and car production stopped and the last limousine was built. In 2013 the plant made 95 vehicles and the company was declared bankrupt. Most buildings were cleared between 2012/13 and 2015, and redevelopment of the site was announced in 2014.

ZIL timeline

Landmark ZIL trucks and limousines

Ten models trace the plant's progress from licence copies to its own designs.

Exports, licences and engineering milestones

There is no verified motorsport record for ZIL; its milestones are industrial. The ZIS-5 opened exports in 1934, and over the plant's life about 630,000 vehicles went to 51 countries. The ZIL-157 is reported to have won an award at the Brussels World's Fair of 1958.

The plant's designs also seeded truck production abroad. From 1953 ZIL supplied training, tooling and technical support to China, and the Jiefang CA-10 of 1956, based on the ZIS-150, became the first truck built there; the history of FAW covers that side of the story. China later built the ZIL-157 under licence as the Jiefang CA-30.

The ZIL-130 family showed how far one platform could stretch. Besides the long-wheelbase 130G, there were export versions, the ZIL-138 running on liquefied or compressed gas, and the ZIL-136I with a Perkins diesel for export. The ZIL-5301 took another route: it reused the cab of the ZIL-4331 and powered it with a four-cylinder D-245.9 E3 diesel of 96 kW (130 PS), carrying 3,450 kg (7,606 lb).

The ZIL limousine line, ZIS-110 to ZIL-41047

ZIL limousines were built in very small numbers, and each model stayed in production for many years. The ZIS-110 was closely based on the 1942 Packard Super Eight, and the ZIL-111 kept a mid-1950s American style while switching to a V8.

The ZIL-41047 was the final step, offered as a saloon, a convertible and an ambulance:

A German-language source gives 12,145 limousines for 1936–2006, which does not match the per-model counts and probably includes other types.

Owners, plant moves and the end of ZIL

ZIL was state-owned for most of its life, privatised in 1992 and handed to a new owner group in 2003. Several of its trucks outlived it by moving to other plants:

• ZIL-157: built by ZIL until 1977, then by the Ural plant (UAmZ) from 1978 as the 157KD; the official end is 1992, with final assembly continuing briefly after that.
• ZIL-131: built by the AMUR plant from 1987 as the AMUR-531340, until that plant shut down and filed for bankruptcy in 2012.
• ZIL-130: after ZIL stopped in 1994, derivatives were built from 1995 to 2012 as the UAmZ-43140 and AMUR-531350.
• Heavy trucks: the role passed to KAMAZ in the 1970s.

The end came in stages. Vehicle production stopped in 2012 and the company was declared bankrupt in 2013 (German sources say dissolved). In 2016 equipment and assets were auctioned to a small successor company with 47 staff. English-language sources say it was believed to have ceased by 2020, while reports from 2021 described it as still operating.

The final ZIL range

The last generation of ZIL products, with years as the sources give them:

Specification tables for each are listed under all ZIL models.

ZIL in numbers

ZIL production figures come mostly from one family of encyclopedia sources, so treat them as approximate:

• about 8 million motor vehicles in total, including 7,853,985 trucks (1924–2006) and 39,501 buses;
• about 3.38 million ZIL-130 trucks built by ZIL up to 1994;
• 797,934 ZIL-157 trucks over 36 years by two manufacturers;
• 195,000–210,000 trucks a year between 1975 and 1989;
• about 5.5 million refrigerators (1951–2000) and about 3.24 million bicycles (1951–1959);
• about 630,000 vehicles exported to 51 countries;
• 16,458 vehicles in 2001, 6,954 in 2005, 985 in 2012 and 95 in 2013.