MeMZ

The factory was founded in 1908 by a Ukrainian Mennonite entrepreneur Izrail Davidovich Zaferman, intending to build diesel engines.

It was renamed into the artel Pobeda (Victory) in 1925 and was focused mainly on diesel engine for applications in agricultural and construction machinery, and for fishing boats.

[3] The large industrial city of Melitopol was freed from Nazi occupation in 1944, at which time the National Committee of USSR ordered the factory to resume operations.

As a result, it was implemented in what the Soviet government hoped would be the first "National" vehicle; the ZAZ (often referred to as Zaporozhets) - short for Zaporozhia Automotive Factory.

The ZAZ model-line cars were intended to be affordable; therefore they were neither safe nor reliable[citation needed]; nevertheless they were a success since people would rather have some means of transportation as opposed to none at all.