2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:42
Every major car brand has multiple product lines. One of them are minibuses. All brands or models of this line have different carrying capacity, number of seats, body length and type of application, but they all have one thing in common - these are small buses, vehicles for transporting people.
Brands and models
Brands are not written by chance - take, for example, the Toyota brand. Everyone has seen the Toyota Hiace. But this one brand has several types.
At the same time, the brand itself has several brands related to the line of minibuses.
The pictures above show a Japanese minibus. If we talk about Western minibuses, all brands, their prices often consist of the price in the German market and the price for driving here. If the owner himself can overtake the car, the price will not be much lower than the price in Russia. This will require costs, but the sum of the costs + the price of the bus is worth it. This, of course, is not about new ones, but about former ones.used, but used there - on western roads.
Soviet (Russian) minibuses
Soviet automakers did not deal with minibuses as such. VAZ, GAZ and other manufacturers produced only cars or trucks, cars. There was only one plant, or rather, not even a plant - a factory that creates hulls on a gas chassis. Everyone saw her cars. Someone went to work on this, someone to study, someone worked. I think that one word "factory" has already given impetus to memories. Let's add the word "auto" here, then we will reduce it to the first letter … And we will get the name of the factory that produced exclusively minibuses. All brands or models (especially early ones) of this factory had the logo of Latvia on the hood, and later RAF - the Riga Automobile Factory.
What is most interesting, there was not a single building in Riga, but all mass Soviet production functioned on the territory of the now sovereign power.
The factory has worked for many years and, in addition to ordinary minibuses, produced many special models.
Part of the production was exported to Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, but almost all Soviet-era minibuses were RAFs and, accordingly, at one time left the gates of one of the workshops of this factory. Having most of the nodes from various GAZ models, the cars had good handling, maintainability and other features inherent in the Volga, up to the caps on the wheels from the Volga Gas 21. There were also overlays. Yes, among otherscharacteristics inherited from GAZ can be called fuel voracity, which distinguishes all RAF minibuses. All brands are distinguished by increased fuel consumption, but some RAF special developments consumed much more than their counterparts. However, if we recall that all cars of this class were on the balance sheet of state-owned enterprises, then this shortcoming cannot be called significant.
The Rafiks have now been successfully replaced by GAZelles, Sables, or other foreign brands. The GAZelle was originally developed as a small truck, but the development turned out to be so successful that after the usual flatbed car, other modifications went, having the usual filling of the GAZelle, but with a different body. One of these solutions was modern minibuses.
Current situation
New minibuses in Russia are no less in demand than RAFiki used to be. Many carriers use only foreign solutions, but GAZelles, and especially designs with high ceilings, are also successfully used. By the way, if in the past, a fixed-route taxi, however, like a regular one, was used no more often than buses or other public transport, then according to modern statistics, there are cities in Russia where more than 80% of the passenger flow is carried by minibuses.
All brands, prices
New models are still popular, and let's say, in Moscow, the price of a Mercedes minibus will be from 2 million. If there is a desire and opportunity, a bus can be taken in other regional cities, andthen return to Moscow (if the latter is necessary). So the price can be cheaper. The price for Wv, also in Moscow, can start from 4 million. At the same time, Russian auto-standard gazelles will naturally cost less.
GAZ, like another manufacturer, is interested in buying its products, so it sets low prices for its minibuses. All brands, prices and features can be viewed in the following table.
Of course, these are not all models, but we are talking about minibuses (prices, new models).
Conclusion
It is not possible to consider all car brands in a short article. But we described the Soviet, and then the Russian brands that produce minibuses. There is no need to consider all brands - if the model is successful, it is simply processed, finalized and a new car is made. But maybe that's right. Reinventing the wheel is boring….
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