Konela ( Oy Konela Ab ) is a joint Soviet-Finnish company created to sell and service Soviet cars (subsequently also trucks and buses) in Finland , as well as in other countries of Northern Europe .
| Konela | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type of | Joint-Stock Company |
| Base | 1948 |
| Abolished | 2003 |
| Successor | Delta Motor Group Oy |
| Former names | Lauttasaaren Autokorjaamo Oy |
| Founders | Auto Export |
| Location |  Finland |
| Industry | engineering |
| Products | cars |
The company was founded in 1948 as a joint stock company , the founder of the Soviet side was the Foreign Trade Association "Autoexport" [1] .
The first models that entered Finland through a joint venture were Moskvich-400 (since 1949), the GAZ-M-20 Pobeda , as well as the 2.5-ton truck GAZ-51 . Subsequently, the list of proposed cars included almost all models produced in the USSR, as well as an extensive range of tractors, mainly wheeled.
In 1965, the company sold 6,500 cars, and in 1975, sales reached a peak with the entry of the Zhiguli into the market, amounting to 12,647 units. By 1981, the total number of Soviet cars sold in Suomi was over 300,000. [2] .
Many Soviet cars delivered to Finland were represented by modifications specially developed for the local market. Since the 1970s, Konela has itself connected to the conversion of imported Soviet models, adapting them to the European market. In 1979, the Finnish side, in turn, first developed a reanimobile for the USSR based on the RAF-2203 minibus . In the late 1980s, small-scale convertibles manufactured by Konela on the basis of Niva and Samara entered the European market. From 1996 to autumn 1998, a small-scale assembly of the tuning version of the VAZ-2109 under the brand name LADA Samara Baltic was organized at the Finnish Valmet plant in Uusikaupunki .
Konela stopped its business in 2003, and Finnish partners established Delta Motor Group Oy, a trading company, on its basis.
Modifications to vehicles specially supplied or assembled by Konela
- GAZ-51V - a truck with an increased load capacity up to 3 tons, an extended wheelbase and a platform with low sides
- ZIL-136I - modification of the ZIL-130 with the Finnish Valmet 411BS diesel engine rated at 125 hp
- Elite 1500 pakettiauto - three-door station wagons based on Moskvich-412
- Elite Pick Up - an extended version of the IZH-27151-013-01 pickup
- GAZ-24 Konela - a modification of the Volga with a three-liter V6 Ford engine with 144 hp, released in single copies
- Lada Samara Baltic - tuning export version of the VAZ-2109 (metallic paint, improved interior trim and a new plastic body kit in a circle)
- RAF β 2203 Tamro - Reanimobile with a high superstructure
- KamAZ-Ajokki - a mobile television station on the KamAZ- 53212 chassis.
Notes
- β Victor Prasolov. Lada . ZR (April 29, 2005). Date of treatment June 16, 2015.
- β Page by page . ΠΠ (No. 3, 2003). Date of treatment June 16, 2015.
Source
- Sergey Kanunnikov. Soviet cars in Finland: foreign relatives . ZR (June 2015). Date of treatment June 16, 2015.