Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, with assembly facilities in Petropavl, Kazakhstan, Ural is the oldest and one of the world's largest manufacturers of sidecar-equipped motorcycles.

IMZ-Ural's origins are linked to developments in the Eastern Front during World War II as the Soviet Union was preparing to repel possible military action by Nazi Germany.

Mobility was especially stressed after the Soviet Union had witnessed the effect of the blitzkrieg on Poland, and a small, rugged, multi-purpose vehicle that could handle Russia's underdeveloped road network and pockmarked battlefields was a priority.

Five units were covertly purchased through Sweden and handed over to Moscow Motorcycle Plant, recently organized in a retooled bicycle factory.

By the end of the decade, however, military production was moved to a sister plant in Kyiv, Ukraine, (KMZ) while IMZ focused on producing bikes for the domestic market.

Nearly 10,000 people worked at the massive factory, and at its peak it produced around 130,000 motorcycles annually—primarily for the Russian domestic market as a cheap alternative to automobiles.

Over the next five decades, Ural motorcycles were exported to every corner of the Soviet Union and could be found as far afield as Western Europe, Southeast Asia, India, and even the U.S.

Along with being fully integrated into the modern global supply chain, Ural and its products are in compliance with all applicable environmental and safety standards and protocols, including Euro 5.

That December, Bendukidze sold the factory to three individuals—including the company's current CEO and majority shareholder, the Russian-born American businessman Ilya Khait—in a process of management buyout.

The new owners immediately began reorganizing the factory by selling off assets, reducing the workforce by two-thirds, and consolidating production in the facility's smaller buildings.

In March of that year, Ural production ground to a halt due to inability to import components and export bikes out of Russia caused by international sanctions laid on the country.

Petropavl, a city roughly 373 miles (600 kilometers) south-east from Irbit, was chosen because it had an established industrial infrastructure and a sizeable Russian-speaking populace.