Kamaz

History

In 1969, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the USSR Communist Party and the USSR Council of Ministers was approved which envisaged construction of a complex of heavy duty truck production plants. 70 potential sites to locate the facilities were investigated. Choice went in favor of Naberezhnye Chelny, then a small town on the Kama River. Its advantages were obvious. So far as its geographical situation was concerned, Naberezhnye Chelny was right in the center of the former Soviet Union. The navigable rivers – the Kama River and the Volga River – as well as proximity of the railway line, were central to meeting all the logistical needs of the construction site for materials, raw materials, equipment, components while, going forward, to meeting the need to ship ready-made trucks to customers. 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 to fuse into a “melting pot” of the construction project personnel. Orders placed by KAMAZ to procure construction materials and equipment were filled by all the ministries and departments, a total of over 2000 enterprises. Over 100,000 personnel were employed at the construction site itself. The would-be truck plant was being provided with the most state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment by the contemporary standards. More than 700 international firms were among equipment vendors for KAMAZ facilities, including such globally known corporations as Swindell-Dressler, Holcroft, CE-Cast, Ingersoll Rand, Ex-Cello (U.S.A.), Hueller-Hille, Liebherr (West Germany), Morando, Fata (Italy), Renault (France), Sandvik (Sweden), Komatsu and Hitachi (Japan).

On December 13, 1969, ground was broken and the first bucket of soil was excavated at the construction site of the Kama River Truck Plant which was rated for production of 150,000 heavy duty trucks and 250,000 engines per year. The Complex of Plants on the Kama River sprawled over a vast territory measuring 57 square km. Concurrent to construction of the truck plant, huge social challenges were tackled. Hundreds of thousands of people were provided by KAMAZ with comfortable housing, modern educational facilities, kindergartens and creches, hospitals and clinics, numerous cultural, sporting, recreational and leisure centers. KAMAZ was instrumental in transforming the Kama River Area into a powerful industrial and scientific research hub and developing the infrastructure for the suburban agricultural zone.

Every year the population of the city grew by another 30-40 thousand or so. Whereas before construction of KAMAZ got underway, 27,000 residents had lived in Naberezhnye Chelny, the current population has now reached more than half a million.

Owners and management

The authorized capital of "KAMAZ" is 35.36 billion rubles. The shareholders of the plant as of June 2010 are: 49.9% of the shares owned by the state corporation "Russian Technologies State Corporation"; 27.3% controlled by the company "Troika Dialog"; 11% owned by Daimler (a block of 10% was sold to Daimler AG by Troika Dialog for $250 million in early December, 2008); 4% owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

At the same time, "KAMAZ" has a lot of minority shareholders (more than 76,000 individuals).

In early March, 2008 the Board of Directors of KAMAZ was elected, which included 15 people, including: The mayor of the city of Naberezhnye Chelny (April 2010 - Prime Minister of Tatarstan) - Ildar Khalikov, head of the management Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) - Ivan V. Aksenov, and the Director-General of the "Russian Technologies State Corporation" Sergey Chemezov.

Group structure

KAMAZ Publicly Traded Company has more than 110 subsidiaries and affiliates, it owns shares in the authorized capital of more than 50 different companies and businesses. Together they form KAMAZ Group.
The group includes:

The main production facilities of the plant are located in the industrial area of Naberezhnye Chelny. Nefaz buses are produced in Neftekamsk (Bashkortostan).

There are also foreign manufacturing facilities in the following locations: Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan (KAMAZ-Engineering JSC).

Competition

Kamaz vehicles have won the truck category of the Dakar Rally 14 times as of 2017. All 14 of the 2010 Dakar Rally stages in the truck category were won by Kamaz trucks.

Trucks

From 1976 - 2015, KAMAZ has produced trucks as follows :

Tractor truck

Engines KAMAZ Engines

KAMAZ Cummins

KAMAZ Mercedes

Other vehicles

Kamaz Mustang

The Kamaz Мустанг (Mustang) is a family of general military utility trucks with numerous variants. The family is based on the 1st generation KamAZ family launched in the early 1980s. A three-person cab is standard across the Mustang range. It has a sleeping berth and tilts forward for engine access. This cab can be fitted with add-on armour kit.

The Mustang family is available in eight (8) models:

Original three:

And the Kamaz-43501, -5450, -6450, and -5350 trucks with armoured cabs.: