Latvian Rīgas Autobusu Fabrika, (Russian: Рижская Автомобильная Фабрика) (abbreviated RAF) was a factory in Jelgava, Latvia making vans under the brand name Latvija. A factory (previously manufactory) or manufacturing plant is a large industrial building where workers manufacture goods or products. ... Jelgava (German: Mitau; Russian: Елгава / Митава; Polish: Mitawa) is a town in central Latvia about 41 km southwest of Riga with approximately 66,000 inhabitants. ... A van is a vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people. ...

During Soviet period, RAF was the only producer of vans in Soviet Union. The RAF vans were used only by state enterprises, most often as ambulances and public transit. Private persons were not allowed to own them, with the only exception for families with 5 or more children.

The factory started in 1949 on the base of Rīga auto repair factory №2 and originally produced only van bodies. In 1955, it was renamed into Riga Experimental Bus Factory (Russian: Рижский Опытный Автобусный Завод), and the production started to be abbreviated as RAF. Riga (RÄ«ga in Latvian), the capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of River Daugava, at 56°58′ N 24°8′ E. Riga is the largest city in the Baltic States and serves as a major cultural, educational, political, financial, commercial and industrial...

The first RAF’s production of its own was RAF 251, a 22-seat local bus, based on GAZ-51 chassis. From 1958 the factory started to produce RAF 977 microbuses, based on GAZ-21 Volga aggregates. It was planned to produce passenger, freight and specialized versions of the vehicle. The first party of 1-ton vans was produced in 1962 and was based on modernized 977D chassis. However, the factory size was not large enough to put this model into mass production, and therefore it was moved to ErAZ (Yerevan, Armenia). See also GAZ Categories: Automobile stubs ... Volga is a brand name of various passenger cars from GAZ. // Models GAZ-21 The GAZ-21 Volga, the first car to carry the Volga name, was developed in the early to mid 1950s. ... Evening shot of Republic Square, located at the heart of the city. ...

In 1976 the construction of the new factory in Jelgava was finished. It was designed to produce 17,000 automobiles per year. The factory started to produce multiple modifications of RAF 2203 microbuses on GAZ-24 base. Jelgava (German: Mitau; Russian: Елгава / Митава; Polish: Mitawa) is a town in central Latvia about 41 km southwest of Riga with approximately 66,000 inhabitants. ...

By the beginning of 1990-s, RAF 2203 was completely outdated and the factory was designing a new model. The original plan was to build the new RAF “Roksana”, designed together with British designer firm IAD. The model was successfully displayed on different auto salons, but never went further than prototype. The same was the destiny of front-wheel driven “Style” microbus.

After the collapse of the USSR, the new borders broke all the supply chains. The production was constantly falling. An investment proposal came from Russian GAZ company, but it was rejected by Latvian government, which considered Russian capital a threat to Latvian independence. Although some of the Western and East Asian investors also showed their interest in RAF, all of them considered this investment too risky - the local market was too small to begin large production, and the perspective Russian market was almost entirely closed due to complicated political relationship of Russia and Latvia. This article concerns GAZ, the vehicle. ...

In 1997, the last party of 13-seat RAF-22039 was released. Ironically, the last automobile produced by the dying giant was RAF-3311, designed to transport corpses.

In 1998, RAF went bankrupt.

Models

• RAF Latvija - collector - 4x2 cash collector on RAF-2203 chassis
• RAF Latvija - tourist van, motor home
• RAF-251 - GAZ-51 based bus (1955-1958)
• RAF-08 - 8-passenger prototype bus (1957)
• RAF-10 - GAZ-21 based 9-11-passenger bus (1957-1959)
• RAF-2203 Latvija - 4x2 4dr van, 1976
• RAF-2203 Latvija [delivery] - 4x2 4dr delivery van
• RAF-2203 Latvija [cardiology] - 4x2 4dr cardiac ambulance
• RAF-2203 Latvija [fire] - 4x2 4dr fire minivan
• RAF-2203 Latvija GAI - 4x2 4dr police van
• RAF-2203 Latvija [mail] - 4x2 4dr mail van
• RAF-2203 Latvija [taxi] - 4x2 4dr taxi van
• RAF-2203 Latvija VAI - 4x2 4dr military police van
• RAF-22031 Latvija - 4x2 4dr ambulance
• RAF-2914 - 4x2 ambulance van
• RAF-3311 Latvija - 4x2 pickup on RAF-2203 chassis
• RAF-33111 Latvija - 4x2 light truck on RAF-2203 chassis
• RAF-977 Latvija - GAZ-21 based 10-passenger van/bus/ambulance/taxi (1959-1976). Also made in D, DM and IM models.

See also GAZ Categories: Automobile stubs ...

External links

• http://www.autogallery.org.ru/raf.htm
• http://www.abc.se/~m9805/eastcars/showbrand.php?brand=latvia&lang=en
• http://www.jed.simonides.org/transport/romeo/raf/raf-title.html