Initially, 10 Ford Model AA trucks were built at the plant,[2][3] under the name NAZ (for Nizhny Novgorod Avtomobilny Zavod).

Soviet engineers prepared their own mechanical blueprints for production, specifying a truck to be made with thicker steel and to have an upgraded suspension system.

By 1932, mass-production had started, with around 60 trucks built at the plant daily from knock-down kits sent by Ford.

[4] Soon, assembly started of GAZ-A passenger vehicles,[5] which were based on the Ford Model A and were also built from knock-down kits imported into the Soviet Union.

By that time a modernized variant of the GAZ-AA trucks, under the GAZ-MM index entered production, with the engine from the GAZ-M1, that boosted the vehicle's power to 50 hp, with the compression ratio increased to 4.6, giving a maximum speed of 80 km / h.[9][10]