KAMAZ is a Russian manufacturer of trucks, buses, and engines headquartered in Naberezhnye Chelny. Founded in 1969, the company is known for its cab over trucks. As of 2014, KAMAZ is the largest truck producer in Russia and the CIS, producing 43,000 trucks a year.[3] Its trucks have won the Dakar Rally a record eighteen times, the most in the truck category by any manufacturer.
History
In 1969, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the USSR Council of Ministers was approved which envisaged construction of a complex of heavy duty truck production plants. Out of 70 sites investigated as potential locations, Naberezhnye Chelny, then a small town on the Kama River, was chosen. Naberezhnye Chelny is located near two navigable rivers: the Kama River and the Volga River, and has railway connections. These transport links made the site attractive as they could be used to bring in raw materials and facilitate the export of the trucks. The fact that the huge construction company "KamGESenergostroy" existed in the region allowed construction of plant buildings and apartment blocks for prospective KAMAZ employees to be completed.
Workers and engineers, representing more than 70 ethnicities, converged on Naberezhnye Chelny. Over 100,000 personnel were employed at the construction site itself. In its fit-out, the plant was provided with state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment. More than 700 international firms were among equipment vendors for KAMAZ facilities, including