Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ) became the first plant in the Soviet Union to mass produce automobiles on a large scale. In the 1930s, Gorky Automobile Plant produced almost 70 percent of all automobiles released in the country. Its story began on May 31, 1929 when an agreement was signed between Ford Motor Company and the Soviet Union’s National Economy Council promising to provide technical assistance in the field of automobile construction and operation to the plant in Nizhny Novgorod. Since that time many different vehicles have been produced at the plant. Nowadays the plant produces light commercial vehicles called GAZelles. They are simple vehicles that their owners can depend on. They are designed to handle difficult areas on the road and poor weather conditions. In Russia this automobile has truly become «the people’s car».