LAZ-4202

The LAZ-4202 is a middle-class urban and suburban bus. It was serially built from 1978 to 1993, in the Ukrainian city of Lviv. The intention was to develop a cheap and the first serial diesel-powered city bus with serial automatic transmission. Due to initial lack in quality and many teething troubles, it could not replace its predecessor, LAZ-695, which remained in production for a further 15 years, after the discontinuation of the 4202 series.

== History == LAZ 4202 was a part of a new Soviet bus generation, which included a middle and a high capacity models, like the LiAZ-5256. The development began in the second half of the 70s, at the All-Union Experimental Bus Construction Institute (now Ukrautobusprom), in the city of Lviv. The goal of the developer team was to bring the first serial diesel-powered city bus with wide entry doors in serial production, which could replace the obsolete LAZ-695. One other requirement was a cheap production, which should be achieved by the usage of parts from other buses and trucks. At that time, a similar LAZ-698 city bus prototype, from the 1960s, already existed. The LAZ-4202 was a further development of it. Also engineers from the Hungarian bus manufacturer Ikarus had contributed to the development of this model. The vehicle tests and the introduction in serial production took a minimum of time and, in November 1978, the first serial buses leave the factory doors. Only 13 units could be built in the first year and 15 in 1980, due to problems in the supply chain of parts from external manufacturers, especially in the supply of diesel engines from Kamaz. Between 1980 and 1982, the production was entirely stopped.