Rigas Autobusu Fabrika

Latvian R?gas Autobusu Fabrika, (Russian: ??????? ????????????? ???????) (abbreviated RAF) was a factory in Jelgava, Latvia making vans under the brand name Latvija.

Related Topics:
Latvian - Russian - Factory - Jelgava - Latvia - Vans - Latvija

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During Soviet period, RAF was the only producer of vans in Soviet Union. The RAF vans were used only by state enterprises, most often as ambulances and public transit. Private persons were not allowed to own them, with the only exception for families with 5 or more children.

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The factory started in 1949 on the base of R?ga auto repair factory ?2 and originally produced only van bodies. In 1955, it was renamed into Riga Experimental Bus Factory (Russian: ??????? ??????? ?????????? ?????), and the production started to be abbreviated as RAF.

Related Topics:
R?ga - Russian

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The first RAF?s production of its own was RAF 251, a 22-seat local bus, based on GAZ-51 chassis. From 1958 the factory started to produce RAF 977 microbuses, based on GAZ-21 Volga aggregates. It was planned to produce passenger, freight and specialized versions of the vehicle. The first party of 1-ton vans was produced in 1962 and was based on modernized 977D chassis. However, the factory size was not large enough to put this model into mass production, and therefore it was moved to ErAZ (Yerevan, Armenia).

Related Topics:
GAZ-51 - GAZ-21 Volga - ErAZ - Yerevan - Armenia

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In 1976 the construction of the new factory in Jelgava was finished. It was designed to produce 17,000 automobiles per year. The factory started to produce multiple modifications of RAF 2203 microbuses on GAZ-24 base.

Related Topics:
Jelgava - GAZ-24

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By the beginning of 1990-s, RAF 2203 was completely outdated and the factory was designing a new model. The original plan was to build the new RAF ?Roksana?, designed together with British designer firm IAD. The model was successfully displayed on different auto salons, but never went further than prototype. The same was the destiny of front-wheel driven ?Style? microbus.

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After the collapse of the USSR, the new borders broke all the supply chains. The production was constantly falling. An investment proposal came from Russian GAZ company, but it was rejected by Latvian government, which considered Russian capital a threat to Latvian independence. Although some of the Western and East Asian investors also showed their interest in RAF, all of them considered this investment too risky - the local market was too small to begin large production, and the perspective Russian market was almost entirely closed due to complicated political relationship of Russia and Latvia.

Related Topics:
USSR - GAZ - Russia - Latvia

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In 1997, the last party of 13-seat RAF-22039 was released. Ironically, the last automobile produced by the dying giant was RAF-3311, designed to transport corpses.

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In 1998, RAF went bankrupt.

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