UAZ was born in 1941, when part of a Moscow truck plant was evacuated to Ulyanovsk on the Volga. Its badge is a bird in a circle that most people call a seagull.
- Country
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Russia - Active
- Since 1941
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- Official website ↗
A war factory on the Volga
UAZ was born out of an emergency. In July 1941 the Soviet State Defence Committee decided to move some of the capital’s biggest factories east. That October, part of the workforce of the Moscow ZIS plant and its equipment arrived in Ulyanovsk, a city on the Volga.
The first things it made weren’t cars at all. By early 1942 the new munitions shop had turned out aircraft shells. Then came trucks: the first five ZIS-5s were assembled by May 1942, and the branch, known as UlZIS, became the lead plant for the model.
On 22 June 1943 the decision was taken to build a proper automobile plant across the Sviyaga river. That plant is the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, or UAZ for short. Its first vehicle of its own, according to UAZ, was the UlZIS-253, a prototype diesel truck finished in 1943. When ZIS-5 output moved to Miass at the end of 1944, Ulyanovsk was told to build the GAZ-AA instead, and the first one left the line on 26 October 1947.
The big shift came in the mid-1950s. Production of the GAZ-69 off-roader moved from Gorky to Ulyanovsk, and from 1956, UAZ says, the plant officially specialised in light vehicles with high off-road ability. The same year its engineers chose a layout with the cab over the engine, which, UAZ says, no maker of off-road vehicles was using at the time. It made room for a bigger body without making the vehicle longer.
An elk, then a winged ring
Until the mid-1950s, Soviet cars wore animal figures rather than abstract badges. Gorky had its deer. Ulyanovsk had an elk.
The plant has used more than ten logos over its history, and every one of them is built around a stylised letter У, the Cyrillic U. On the first, the letter simply stood for the first letter of Ulyanovsk. One of the most striking early designs was a ring with stylised wings on each side and a coloured insert carrying the plant’s initials. It looked great. It was also hard to make, and that is why it was dropped.
Seagull or swallow?
The badge that replaced it is the one you still see today: a bird inside a circle. Its designer mixed three ideas into one shape: a stylised letter У, a three-pointed star of the kind made famous by Mercedes-Benz, and the outline of a V engine. Other sketches on the table included an elk head to suggest off-road ability, a lighthouse and a profile of Lenin. None made the cut.
According to the Russian magazine Za Rulem, the winning design came from Albert Rakhmanov, a young engineer who joined UAZ in 1956, and it won a trademark contest in 1962. Most people call the bird a seagull. Rakhmanov told Za Rulem he sees a swallow.
The bird nearly got grounded. In 1981, when the plant tried to register its emblem in West Germany, Opel objected that it could be confused with its own badge, and the registration was at first refused. UAZ argued back and the logo was eventually registered. Za Rulem adds that the episode led to a new variant: a seagull with curved wings inside a pentagon, the five sides standing for the Volga flowing into five seas.
Chrome bird, deeper green
In February 2016 UAZ presented an updated logo. It wasn’t a fresh start. The bird became a three-dimensional sign with a chrome finish, and the wordmark got a new typeface with clean forms and straight lines to match it. The corporate colour stayed green, but a deeper, more saturated shade. According to Kolesa.ru, the name is now written in Russian letters, УАЗ. According to Sostav, the logo was drawn by designers at the UAZ technical centre and refined by the DEZA studio.
UAZ said the update keeps the link with the brand’s traditions and history while signalling a push into new products, innovation and new markets. The first car to wear it was the updated Patriot later that year.
Built for roads that aren’t there
Since the 1950s UAZ has done one thing: vehicles that keep going where the road stops. Some of its designs have stayed in production for decades.
Landmark UAZs, decade by decade
- 1954: GAZ-69. The first pre-production batches of this off-roader left the Ulyanovsk line at the end of 1954, setting the course for everything that followed.
- 1961: UAZ-451. Series production of the UAZ-451 van and the UAZ-451D flatbed truck began, and the first ones left a new assembly line on 12 December.
- 1972: UAZ-469. A pre-production batch rolled off the main line on 15 December 1972. Two years later three UAZ-469Bs drove up the slopes of Elbrus.
- 2003: UAZ Hunter. On 20 November 2003 the last UAZ-31512, a version of the 469, left the line, and the first Hunter followed it.
- 2005: UAZ Patriot. Series production started on 17 August 2005, with a new welding line and paint shop built for it.
- 2010: UAZ 469 record. In June 2010, 32 people squeezed into a single UAZ 469 for a world record in passenger capacity.
- 2017: UAZ Profi. A light commercial truck with a 1.5 tonne payload, built to keep UAZ’s off-road ability.
UAZ grew up in the shadow of GAZ, whose trucks and off-roaders it built before it designed its own. Since 2000 it has been part of the SOLLERS group. For another Russian badge, see Lada, and for more on how emblems like this are created, read how car logos are designed.
Frequently asked questions
What does the UAZ logo mean?
The emblem is a bird inside a circle. It combines a stylised letter У, the Cyrillic U of Ulyanovsk, with a three-pointed star and the outline of a V engine.
Is the bird on the UAZ badge a seagull?
Most people call it a seagull. Albert Rakhmanov, credited by Za Rulem with the design, has said he sees a swallow.
What does UAZ stand for?
Ulyanovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant. The factory grew out of the Moscow ZIS plant, which was partly evacuated to Ulyanovsk in 1941.
When did UAZ change its logo?
The latest update came in February 2016. The bird became a chrome three-dimensional sign, the wordmark got a new typeface and the green turned deeper.
Why did Opel object to the UAZ emblem?
In 1981 Opel argued the UAZ badge could be confused with its own, and West German registration was at first refused. UAZ contested it and the logo was registered.
From elk mascot to chrome seagull
- Founded
- 1941
- Country
- Russia
- Headquarters
- Ulyanovsk, Russia
- Parent company
- SOLLERS
- Current emblem
- A chrome bird inside a circle with green УАЗ lettering, updated in 2016
- Known for
- The UAZ-469, the Bukhanka van and the Patriot off-roader
- Website
- Official website ↗
