Russian-Belarusian JV forms to assemble MAZ trolleys in Ufa

MINSK. March 3 (Interfax) - MAZ-Rus LLC, the Minsk Automobile Plant's (MAZ) official distributor in Russia, and the Ufa Tram and Trolleybus Plant (UTTZ) have signed the founding documents to form the joint venture MAZ-UTTZ Electric Transport Development Area, the Belarusian automaker reported.

The venture will set up assembly of MAZ trolleys in the Alga special economic zone (SEZ) in the Russian city of Ufa.

The government of Bashkortostan told Interfax earlier that the cost of the trolley assembly project is estimated at 1.25 billion rubles. The venture is expected to produce at least 250 electric city transit vehicles per year based on kits of the existing MAZ 203T, 216T and 303T models, as well as other future models of electric transport.

UTTZ said its cooperation with MAZ began in 2019 with the production of trial batches of up to 30 trolleys. The partners produced 240 trolleys in 2023, and in February 2024 they agreed to form the joint venture with a view to doubling production.

UTTZ, which was founded in 2015, designs, builds, modernizes and repairs urban electric vehicles, including trams, trolleys and buses. OJSC MAZ, the management company of BelAvtoMAZ, became the plant's strategic partner in 2020.