2. Vehicle manufacturers in the Eastern Bloc
Czechoslovakia (Škoda, Tatra, LIAZ)
East Germany (Trabant, Wartburg, Robur, Barkas)
Poland (Polski Fiat, FCS Star)
Romania (Automobile Dacia)
Soviet Union (Lada, Lada Samara, Moskvitch, Kamaz)
Yugoslavia (Fiat Automobili Srbija)
3. Škoda
Automobile manufacturer based in the
Czech Republic.
Became an entirely owned subsidiary of the
Volkswagen Group in 2000, situated as the
admission brand to the group.
In 2012, its total worldwide sales reached
939,200 vehicles.
Škoda Works was founded as an arms
producer in 1859; Škoda Works (and its
antecedents) is one of the five oldest
corporations that began manufacturing
vehicles with an uninterrupted history
(along with Tatra, Daimler, Opel, and
Peugeot).
4. Tatra
Vehicle manufacturer based in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic.
Was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company; later renamed
Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and
carriage producer, and manufactured the first motor vehicle in
Central Europe in 1897, and one of the first vehicles in the world,
the Präsident automobile.
Changed its name to Kopřivnická vozovka a.s. in 1918; started to
use the current Tatra badge, named after the nearby Tatra
mountains in Slovakia, as its logo in 1919.
Third oldest vehicle producer in the world after Daimler and
Peugeot.
Was active in the manufacturing of trucks, during the Second
World War, and tank locomotives for the German war effort.
Manufacturing of passenger vehicles ended in 1999, though the
corporation still manufactures a variety of mostly all-wheel-drive
4 × 4, 6 × 6, 8 × 8, 10 × 10, and 12x12 trucks.
Is at present primarily famous as a consequence of the renowned
Czech truck racer Karel Loprais, who won the world’s toughest
off-road race Dakar Rally as many as six times with the Tatra 815
between 1988-2001; he was the most triumphant driver in the
Dakar’s history when he accomplished his sixth victory.
5. LIAZ
Its full name is LIberecké Automobilové
Závody (Liberec Automobil Works) is a
defunct Czech (formerly Czechoslovak)
producer of trucks.
Was founded in 1951 by the government as a
division of Škoda.
Became independent of Škoda in 1953,
although it kept its name (Škoda LIAZ) in
1984.
Its major plants were in Rýnovice,
Mnichovo Hradiště, and Liberec; factories
later opened in Mělník, Zvolen, Veľký Krtíš,
Přerov, and Holýšov.
Stopped production in 2002.
6. Trabant
Was produced by ex-East German auto maker VEB Sachsenring
Automobilwerke Zwickau in Zwickau, Saxony.
Was the most common car in East Germany; was also sold to nations
both inside and outside of the Communist bloc.
Its key selling points were that it had space for four adults and luggage
in a compacted, light and strong shell; was fast (when introduced).
With its bad performance, out-of-date and ineffective two-stroke engine
(which released back terrible fuel economy for the vehicle’s size and
produced foggy exhaust), and manufacturing scarcities, it is frequently
used as an example of the drawbacks of centralized planning;
conversely, it is seen with sarcastic fondness as a representation for the
former East Germany and of the end of communist rule (in the former
West Germany, where East Germans went there , and to West Berlin, in
their Trabants when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989).
Was in production without any major adjustments for over 30 years;
3,096,099 Trabants in total were manufactured.
Was ranked one of the 50 worst vehicles ever made by Time magazine in
2008.
Much regarding the Trabant, mainly negative, has been written about
the Trabant: to comedic effect, importance was put on the failures of the
Trabant, rather than its positive points, like that it was easy to drive and
easily fixed.
Nonetheless, many former owners of the Trabant still stress benefits,
including strong capability (it can carry more than 1000 kg of cargo); in
some instances, it has become stylish for collectors to send older
models to the U.S. because of their low cost and simpler import
limitations on antique cars.
7. Wartburg
Was a car marque manufactured in East Germany.
The name Wartburg originated from Wartburg Castle
on one of the hills overlooking the city of Eisenach
where the vehicles were produced.
Had a three-cylinder two-stroke engine with no more
than seven moving parts (three pistons, three
connecting rods, and one crankshaft) from the 1950s.
The marque goes back as far as 1898 when a vehicle
made by Automobilwerk Eisenach was named the
Wartburgwagen; it was composed of a two-seating
cane chair, four mudgards, two headlamps, and a two-
cylinder, 765-cc engine.
Its fasted speed was 25 mph.
The name Wartburgwagen was discontinued in 1904
when the corporation changed hands, though it
shortly re-emerged early in the 1930s on the BMW 3/15
DA-3 Wartburg, BMW’s first sports car.
8. Robur
Was a marque of the Volkseigener Betrieb
VEB Robur-Werke Zittau of East Germany
(DDR).
Mostly produced 3-ton trucks.
The vehicles were manufactured in the city
of Zittau in what is now southeast Saxony.
Manufactured under the marque
Phänomen (English: Phenomenon) until
1946, and under the name VEB Phänomen
until 1957.
9. Barkas
Was the East German manufacturer of small delivery vans
and minibuses named the B1000.
The van was assembled in a new factory in Chemnitz
(Karl-Marx-Stadt at the time) on a site which was once
home to the Framo car plant.
The former Framo factory was closed and shipped to the
Soviet Union as part of a bigger war reparations package
late in the 1940s; the DDR government subsequently took
over the industry.
B1000 was produced from 1961-1991.
The B1000 was initially powered by the 45 horsepower
three cylinder, two stroke DKW derived locomotive also
found in contemporary Wartburgs.
The model title was changed to B1000/1 soon before
production ended; the former engine was replaced by a 1.3
four-stroke engine produced under licence from
Volkswagen.
The Belgian importer began setting up a 1.8 liter (Endura-
D) Ford diesel locomotive in the 1980s; the two-stroke was
no longer a competitor.
10. Polski Fiat
Literally Polish Fiat; was a Polish car brand under which cars under
licence of the Italian manufacturer FIAT were produced or built in
Poland.
Was founded in 1932, when Poland’s government made a contract with
FIAT to produce licence cars in a state plant, PZInż. (Państwowe Zakłady
Inżynieryjne) in Warsaw.
A newly created joint Polish-Italian corporation called Polski Fiat SA sold
and serviced the cars.
Cars were initially built from Italian parts (a compact car PF 508/I); other
models were subsequently also built from parts, such as the small Fiat
Topolino.
The plant began to build whole cars from the mid-1930s, but the brand
ceased to exist when the Second World War began in 1939, when the
Germans captured the plant.
In the 1960s, when the Polish government restored connections of the
Polish automobile business with Fiat and obtained a licence for a mid-
size car Polski Fiat 125p, the brand re-emerged.
In 1965, the deal was signed; the first vehicles were built from parts by the
factory, FSO, in 1967, with production beginning in 1968 and ending in
1991, even though the brand Polski Fiat was replaced with FSO (which
was before seen on other models, like the 125p-based FSO Polonez) in
1983.
A second licensed model was made by the FSM from 1973-2000: the
small Polski Fiat 126p, modeled on the Fiat 126.
In 1992, when Fiat bought the Polish plant, the separate Polski Fiat brand
was discontinued; since then, Fiat vehicles have been assembled in
Poland under the Fiat brand, which was in use prior to 1992 only in
export markets.
11. FSC Star
Its full name is Fabryka Samochodów
Ciężarowych; was a Polish truck manufacturer.
Its name comes from the city of Starachowice,
the city in which the factory is located.
Their first vehicle was the Star 20 in 1948.
The Star 266 was the most admired model; it
had very good quality and powerful engines for
a low price.
Was sold in a variety of countries for
numerous years (not limited to the Eastern
Bloc; for instance, it was used by the armed
forces of Yemen).
Was a nationalized corportation for several
years; is now owned by MAN AG.
12. Automobile Dacia
Romanian car manufacturer; named in
honor of Dacia, the historic region that
makes up a large part of modern-day
Romania.
Now a subsidiary of the French carmaker
Renault.
Romania’s biggest vehicle exporter, with
7.9% of total exports in 2011.
13. Lada
Trademark of Russian vehicle producer
AvtoVAZ headquartered in Tolyatti, Samara
Oblast; was originally the export brand for cars
sold under the Zhiguli name in the domestic
Soviet market after the Lada was introduced in
June 1970.
Became popular in Russia and Eastern Europe
in the last two decades of the Soviet period,
especially in ex-Soviet bloc states, where they
became an icon of city life.
The original Lada was extensively sold in
sedan and station-wagon versions; became the
highest-selling car to be assembled without a
big design change, with more than 20 million
units sold before production ceased in mid-
2012.
Its badge represents a Viking sailing boat.
14. Lada Samara
Economy car manufactured by Soviet/Russian
car producer AvtoVAZ under the Lada brand
since 1984.
The brand name Samara was initially only
used for exported vehicles; the same vehicle
was called “Sputnik” (satellite) in Russia until
1991, when the sedan version of Samara began
production, under the export name.
Production of Lada Samara will cease in 2013,
but there is no word on the status of the
pickup model.
15. Moskvitch
Occasionally also written as Moskvich, Moskvič, or
Moskwitsch; vehicle brand from Russia
manufactured by AZLK from 1945-1991 and by
OAO Moskvitch from 1991-2002.
OAO Moskvitch was a privatized venture name
applied to the old factory for the purpose of
avoiding legal problems after the fall of the Soviet
Union in 1991.
Because the factory lacked assembly branches
outside Russia after 1991, its name is mainly used
today to refer to the building located in the lower
eastern part of Moscow; it has been deserted since
2006.
The word moskvitch (Russian: москвич) itself
means “(a) Muscovite” in English; its use was
indicating the original location of the automobiles
assembled outside Moscow.
16. Kamaz
Its full name is Камский автомобильный завод
– КАМАЗ / Kamskiy avtomobilny zavod – Kama
Automobile Plant); Russian truck manufacturer
based in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian
Federation.
Opened its doors in 1976; today, heavy duty
vehicles are shipped around the world, including
Eastern Europe, Latin America, China, the Middle
East, and North Africa.
The trucks have won the Dakar Rally a record ten
times.
Biggest truck manufacturer in Russia and the CIS.
The plant assembles 93,600 trucks per year (260
trucks per day).
The Russian army uses reinforced KAMAZ trucks.
17. Fiat Automobili Srbija
Formerly known as Zastava Automobiles; Serbian vehicle
manufacturer with its headquarters in the city of
Kragujevac in central Serbia.
Best known for its Fiat-based cars, which started
manufacturing in 1955 for Eastern European markets.
Became a Fiat car plant in 2008 when it was entirely
bought by the Italian car producer, after which it was
renamed Fiat Automobili Srbija (“Fiat Automobiles
Serbia”).
Fiat signed a letter of intent on 28 July 2008, assuming
control over the automobile division; spent €700 million in
exchange for a 67 percent wager in the company (then
state-owned) an additional €100 million of savings from
Serbia’s government, later increased to €300 million.
Fiat vowed not to take away any jobs and to make good an
accumulation in salary sum for employees; indicated that
the factory may become a devoted Fiat assembly site.
With this significant investment, production was expected
to gain 330,000 units by 2012.
