MeMZ is short for "Melitopol Motor Plant" (Ukrainian: "Мелітопольський моторний завод"), a part of AvtoZAZ.The factory was founded in 1908 by a Ukrainian Mennonite entrepreneur by the name of Zaferman, intending to build diesel engines. After the October Revolution, it was nationalized, and until 1925 operated as the Russian Second Soviet Factory.