ZiL

About ZiL

Public Joint-Stock Company – Likhachov Plant (OJSC AMO ZiL; Russian: Публичное акционерное общество – Завод имени Лихачёва, romanized: Publichnoye aktsionernoye obshchestvo – Zavod imeni Likhachyova), commonly known as ZiL (ЗиЛ), was an automobile manufacturer based in Danilovsky District of Moscow, Russia from 1916 to 2012. It is best known for producing limousines used by the elite of the Soviet Union which led the company to become the namesake of the ZiL lanes. ZiL was founded to assemble and repair American and Italian vehicles in Russia, but by the 1950s had expanded to produce domestic automobiles, trucks, military vehicles, and heavy equipment. ZiL's limousines were popular with the nomenklatura of Communist Party and it became one of the main producers of luxury cars in the Soviet Union. ZiL was privatised after the dissolution of the Soviet Union but growing unprofitability led the company to cease automobile production, with the last ZiL vehicle being assembled in 2012, and its liquidation as an automobile manufacturer by 2020.