Russia’s AMO ZIL Automotive Enterprise and the Depo-Zil Company have completed work on a new Pullman-type limousine for top Russian officials.
The new business-class vehicle is designated the ZIL-4112R. The letter R denotes the late Depo-Zil founder Sergei Rozhkov, who made an immeasurable contribution to the development of the project.
It took about eight years to implement the Monolit limousine project, which was plagued by delays.
An armored limousine is also scheduled to appear in the future.
The plant also manufactures the prestigious ZIL-41047 business-class limousine.
The commercial ZIL-41047 version was the longest passenger car in the world at the time – almost 21 feet – and just one-quarter inch shorter than the all-time longest car, the Cadillac Series 75 for 1974-1976.
ZIL-41047 limousines carried Politburo members and were nicknamed chlenovoz, meaning “party-member carriers,” by ordinary Soviets. They were also provided to foreign delegations. Just a few of the cars were produced each year.
The Likhachyov Automotive Plant, Russia’s oldest automaker, was established in 1916 under a government program to create a national automotive industry. On August 15, 1918, a Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars (Ministers) declared all assets and facilities of the plant to be the property of Soviet Russia.
The first 1.5-ton AMO-F-15 truck rolled off the plant’s assembly line in the early hours of November 1, 1924. On November 7, 1924, a convoy of ten AMO-F-15 trucks took part in the annual military parade on Moscow’s Red Square. On November 25, three of the trucks roared off on the first trial run.
The assembly floor of the Likhachyov Automotive Plant in Moscow.
