Due to initial lack in quality and many teething troubles, it could not replace its predecessor, LAZ-695, which remained in production for a further 15 years, after the discontinuation of the 4202 series.

LAZ 4202 was a part of a new Soviet bus generation, which included a middle and a high capacity models, like the LiAZ-5256.

The development began in the second half of the 70s, at the All-Union Experimental Bus Construction Institute, in the city of Lviv.

The ventilation of the interior was carried out by opened lateral windows and the heating by an autonomous heater and the engine cooling system.

The all-metal body was made of large-sized, closed profiles of the types PS-232 and PS-233, which were connected by arc welding.

Experiments shown that, thanks to the wide doors, downtime at bus stops was reduced by an average of 50 percent in comparison to older LAZ buses.

[6] The automated hydro-mechanical transmission HM-3-80 was poorly matched to the newly throttled version of the diesel engine from KAMAZ-5320.

The powerful engine led to the destruction of several transmission parts, thus the bus needed technical service every two weeks.

With a mechanical gear box and an engine, intended to be installed on trucks, the bus was more suitable for intercity trips, so in the 90s many operators begun to reequipped their buses for this purpose.

In 1993, after a huge fire at the KamAZ engine plant, all modifications of the 4202 series were fully discontinued from production.

But the Cuban manufacturer did not buy the whole party, so the chassis were sold to an aviation repair plant in Konotop, where the production of LAZ-42021, under the designation 420212, continued for further 2 years.

[8] LAZ-4205 was an intercity version of LAZ-4204, with two manual opening doors and comfortable seats for long distance trips.

On the board was a full-fledged kitchen, refrigerator, gas stove, a wash basin, water tanks as well as a lot more useful equipment.