The truck replaced several versions of the ZIS-5 that were produced by the manufacturer after World War II.

It was not until the end of 1957 or the beginning of 1958 that major changes were made to the bodywork and the technology of the trucks and transferred to series production.

In the course of the increasing specialization of the Soviet auto industry, medium-weight trucks were primarily built in Zavod imeni Likhachyova in Moscow.

[1][2] The UralAZ plant (previously UralZIS), which was also renamed at the beginning of the 1960s, no longer built light trucks after production of the Ural-355M was discontinued.

It specialized completely in the construction of all-terrain three-axle vehicles such as the Ural-375 and the Ural-4320, which is still in production today.