Ganja Auto Plant

Ganja Auto Plant
	Tractors, Combine harvesters, Agricultural machinery
Total assets	USD 40,000,000 dollar
Number of employees	500
Subsidiaries	ATUB Turkey
Website	http://ganjaauto.az/

Ganja Auto Plant (Azerbaijani: Gəncə Avtomobil Zavodu) is an auto assembly plant situated in the Ganja city in Azerbaijan. The factory was founded in 1986 as KiAZ (Kirovabad Automobile Plant) for a production of run of 30,000 "GAZelle" vans according to the project brief. The commissioning was intended to end in 1989 but following a decision of Council of Ministers of the former USSR the construction of the factory was interrupted, and the technological project was given to the Bryansk Automobile Plant. The 256 hectares (633 acres) of overall territory, including the 50 hectares (120 acres) of the factory footprint itself, stayed without utilization for 15 years.

Construction of an automobile plant was considered by the government after the end of the Soviet Union when Azerbaijan had obtained its independence. Since 1994 the giant and famous automobile companies of Italy, Korea, Japan, France and Germany showed interest in the facility, but negotiations held with them ended without a deal.

In December 2004, the Ganja automobile plant started manufacturing, and the first car built at the factory was sold. In 2008, the plant produced about 600 cars and tractors.^[1]

History

Construction of the plant began in 1986 under the name KiAZ (Kirovabad Automobile Factory). The production capacity of the plant was designed to produce 30,000 cars. Construction of the plant for the project was supposed to end in 1989, but because of the collapse of the Soviet Union the construction and operation of the plant was postponed indefinitely. After Azerbaijan gained the independence, in 1993, Turkish company Otokar, showed the interest in factory but due to political change production never implemented. In December 2004, it opened as the Gyandzha Auto Plant and the first car that came out of their production line was presented that year. In the year 2008 the factory produced about 600 vehicles, both cars and tractors, also later bus assembly was started.^[2]

This plant serves as one example of the Azeri government's efforts to show progress in diversifying its economy, which has traditionally always been largely dependent on the production oil and gas, and has been able to serve other purposes, in particular, to give a factual basis for political propaganda of the government. It also downplays some of the state's main weaknesses, such as having been formerly totally dependent on the import of transport equipment from other nations.^{[dubious – discuss]}

Despite the efforts^[3] made at this plant to increase production by Russian interests, the overall production is still very low, being measured in just hundreds of units annuals, where the facility's original concept would accommodate increased production, thousands of units annually.

Recently ^[when?] Moldovan ^[3]^[4] and Russian^[3] investors have visited the plant in order to see the progress made and the production of their products in this factory, as well as Belarusian investors.

The opening of the Azerbaijan-Belarus tractor producing plant took place on April 15, 2019, in Turkey, a source in the Ganja Automobile Plant Production Association told AzVision.az.^{[citation needed]}