Kamaz

In 1969, the Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the USSR Council of Ministers was approved which envisaged construction of a complex of heavy duty truck production plants. Out of 70 sites investigated as potential locations, Naberezhnye Chelny, then a small town on the Kama River, was chosen. Naberezhnye Chelny is located near two navigable rivers: the Kama River and the Volga River, and has railway connections. These transport links made the site attractive as they could be used to bring in raw materials and facilitate the export of the trucks. The fact that the huge construction company "KamGESenergostroy" existed in the region allowed construction of plant buildings and apartment blocks for prospective KAMAZ employees to be completed.

Workers and engineers, representing more than 70 ethnicities, converged on Naberezhnye Chelny. Over 100,000 personnel were employed at the construction site itself. In its fit-out, the plant was provided with state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment. More than 700 international firms were among equipment vendors for KAMAZ facilities, including Swindell-Dressler, Holcroft, CE-Cast, Ingersoll Rand, Ex-Cello (U.S.A.), Hueller-Hille, Liebherr (West Germany), Morando, Fiat (Italy), Renault (France), Sandvik (Sweden), JCB (U.K.), Komatsu and Hitachi (Japan).

On December 13, 1969, ground was broken and the first bucket of soil was excavated at the construction site of the Kama River Truck Plant which was rated for production of 150,000 heavy duty trucks and 250,000 engines per year. The Complex of Plants on the Kama River sprawled over 57 square km. Facilities had to be constructed for the 100,000 workers at the plant. They were provided with housing, educational facilities, kindergartens and creches, hospitals and clinics, numerous cultural, sporting and recreational centers. KAMAZ was instrumental in transforming the Kama River Area into an industrial and scientific research hub and developing the infrastructure for nearby agricultural areas.

Every year the population of the city grew by another 30-40 thousand or so. Whereas before construction of KAMAZ got underway, 27,000 residents had lived in Naberezhnye Chelny, the current population is over half a million.

In 2016, the company's revenue amounted to 121 billion rubles.

As a result of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Kamaz is sanctioned by the EU (March 2022), by New Zealand (April 2022), and by Japan (January 2023). In July 2023, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu stated that the supplies of KAMAZ multipurpose vehicles had surged 17.6 times since early 2022.

By 2025, conditions had affected profitability with the company recording significant losses. However, in the first half of 2026, losses were reduced to only 21.8 billion rubles from a 37 billion ruble loss during 2025 and a 3.4 billion loss in 2024.