MAZ wins best truck prize at Moscow expo

The truck train MAZ 631019 + 837310 made by Minsk Automobile Plant won the Best Big Capacity Truck of the Year award at a contest held in Moscow on September 111-13 as part of the International Automobile Transport Forum, the MAZ press service told BelTA. Powered by a German Euro-4 compliant 435 hp engine, the new vehicle uses a 6x2 axle arrangement to ship 120 cubic metres of cargo. The expert council included representatives of the Russian Transport Ministry, the Russian Automobile Transport Union, and major Russian transport companies. They evaluated every nominated truck on a ten-point scale taking into account the price-quality ratio, real exploitation parameters, economical operation exploitation, maintainability, availability of service and repairs in Russia. The MAZ truck was also praised for the highly comfortable cab and driver’s seat, innovative design, safety and ecological properties. Minsk Automobile Plant exports almost 60% of the trucks it makes to Russia. These products are well-known in the neighbouring country. In the near future a service and logistics centre is supposed to be set up in the Moscow oblast in order to step up MAZ sales in the Russian Federation. In January-July 2007 the company rolled out 13,500 vehicles, 11.8% up on the same period of 2006. MAZ offers truck tractors, high sided trucks, medium-capacity trucks, dump trucks, timber trucks, short loggers, off-road vehicles, and chassis for various kinds of special equipment. All in all, MAZ produces over 250 models, 60 modifications of trailers, over ten bus models and 50 bus modifications.