The AV Pavlovsky Avtobus PAZ is one of the largest bus plant in Russia. It is based in Nizhny Novgorod region. PAZ is specialized in building minibuses.

In 1931, ZATI, the predecessor of AO Pavlovsky Avtobus, started its first productionof tractor tools as a part of Gorky Automobile Plant.

A production programme of 10 000 buses per year was launched in 1952 as a reconstruction programme of the company approved by the former Soviet government. In that year the first PAZ-651 buses mounted on GAZ-51 chassis were produced. In 1958, PAZ-652, the first national wagon-type bus rolled out of the factory Scaled production was started two years later. In 1968 a new model PAZ-672 supersedes the type with a more powerful engine. Numerous variants of this type had been designed for various climate conditions and numerous applications.

In 1989 PAZ-672 was replaced by a new model PAZ-3205 with a newer outlook. Major variants include PAZ-32051 (two-door), PAZ-3205-20 (haulage-passenger), PAZ-3205-30 (bus for the disabled), PAZ-3205-60 (Polar climate), PAZ-3206 (4WD off-country).

In the 1990s, a subsidiary was set up to make midibuses (PAZ-4223) and full-sized (PAZ-5269) city buses. With the registation of a joint venture with German MAN and financial participation of Nissho Iwai (Japan), Pavlovo has begun production of its own medium and large buses on Autosan (Poland) and Volvo (Sweden) chassis.

On 30 July 1998, the 500,000th bus under the PAZ brandname left the assembly line.

PAZ-672 (Vietnam)

PAZ-3205 (Estonia, Vietnam)

Return to Anthony's Bus Homepage

Page created: 7 April 2002

Last updated: 27 May 2012