In 1916, the Kuznetsovs and the Ryabushinskys, who were merchants and industrialists, founded the AMO factory in Moscow. The Moscow Automobile Society was organized to take a commission for the manufacture of 750 small command vehicles and 750 three-ton trucks ordered by the Chief Military Technical Department. The design of the Russian truck was modeled on that of the Italian Fiat (the eternal supporter to the Russian automobile industry, as it turned out).

It was an honest deal, with a license purchased from Fiat, and the chassis adapted to sustain Russia’s poor roads. The construction of factory buildings and the preparation of the manufacturing were completed within unprecedented speed, and the assembling of the first trucks began as early as July, 1917. In 1918, AMO was nationalized. In 1924, the manufacturing was resumed but the plant only produced 1.5 rather than 3 ton trucks. The first four trucks appeared in the Red Square at the parade of November 7.