ZAZ Lanos History

The ZAZ Lanos entered production in 1998 through the AvtoZAZ-Daewoo joint venture, initially assembled from complete knock-down kits shipped from South Korea. When Daewoo Motors went bankrupt in 2001 and UkrAVTO acquired control of ZAZ in 2002, the plant domesticated production progressively — first fitting some kits with the home-built MeMZ-307 engine and selling that variant as the ZAZ Sens, then launching full-scale domestic Lanos production (internal code T150) by end of 2004.

The Lanos became by far ZAZ's best-selling model of the modern era, its combination of a proven Korean platform, affordable price, and growing local content making it the default choice for Ukrainian buyers on a budget. A panel van variant kept rolling off the line even after passenger-car production ceased on 29 November 2017; the van continued until 2020. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 forced ZAZ to suspend operations at its Zaporizhzhia facility entirely.