The MAZ X turned out to be not a concept truck, but a real truck
0 minutes read
In 2024, the Minsk Automobile Plant presented the MAZ X project—a concept truck designed to showcase the Minsk team's developments for next-generation vehicles. As Motor's editorial team discovered, this year the show truck was radically redesigned, with changes to the interior, cabin frame, and overall layout. The first pilot batch is now underway.
As Nikolai Lokotko, Deputy Chief Designer for Trucks at the Minsk Automobile Plant, told Motor, several such trucks will be produced in the next few months and delivered to trusted carriers for test use. The updated trucks feature a hybrid powertrain, powered by a 350-horsepower, 7.8-liter turbodiesel engine: via a generator and battery, it supplies electricity to a pair of electric motors that drive the rear wheels. To reduce the truck's weight, engineers used plastic paneling, a lightweight frame, and single-wheel tires on the drive axle.
Another key design feature is a single sliding door on the right (there is no door on the left side of the cab). Meanwhile, MAZ has built a new bus plant and will double its production. The Minsk Automobile Plant will now be able to produce up to 3,000 buses annually: in recent years, the plant had produced only 1,500-1,800 vehicles.
