By New Cold War.org, April 9, 2015
The historic bus manufacturing factory complex in Lviv, western Ukraine has become another casualty of the collapse of Ukraine’s economy. The Lviv Automobile [Bus] Factory, known as LAZ, is bankrupt. The building is for sale. Only the shell of the building remains; inside it is empty and in ruins.
The closing is a result of the combined impact of the Ukrainian government’s war in eastern Ukraine and its turn to an economic association with Europe. The government has spurned the calls of so many workers and trade unions in Ukraine that it preserve and develop the markets in Russia and elsewhere in former Soviet Union where for decades Ukrainian products were sold.
Here is a Russian news report, dated April 7, on the current state of the bus complex:
“In the factory shops, there is no sign of equipment, the walls are crumbling, the windows are broken, even the floor didn’t survive. The buildings are put up for auction.
“LAZ was founded in 1945 and over the years has built more than 365,000 buses. In 2001, it was privatized. At that time, the volume of production reached 14,600 units per year, not including the production of hydro-mechanical transmissions, which were supplied to various enterprises. However, the private owner could not maintain the prosperity of the plant. LAZ got into debt, reduced its staff, sold the property and, finally, came to bankruptcy.”
Production at the plant stopped last September. Read a report of that on New Cold War.org.
See a history of the Lviv Automobile [Bus] Factory here on Wikipedia. Most production ceased in early 2014. See photos of that here.
