thumb|RAF-251 bus
thumb|[[RAF-977 minibus]]
thumb|[[RAF-2203 Latvija]]
thumb|right|[[RAF-2203|RAF-22031-01 ambulance]]
thumb|RAF-2907 (special edition for the [[1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow)]]
The Riga Autobus Factory (RAF; ) was a factory in Jelgava, Latvia, making vans and minibuses under the brand name Latvija.
History
Origins, Riga period
During the Soviet period, RAF and UAZ were the only producers of vans and minibuses in the Soviet Union. RAF vans and minibuses were used only by state enterprises, most often as ambulances and for public transit. Private persons were not allowed to own them, the only exception being for families with at least five children.
In 1949, the factory began producing van bodies on the site of the Riga auto repair factory No.2 (commonly known as RARZ). In 1955, it was renamed the Riga Experimental Bus Factory (, ), and the products started to be abbreviated to RAF. It would become the main Soviet producer of minibuses.
RAF's first product was the RAF-251, a 22-seat local bus, based on the GAZ-51 chassis (which RAF also built), with a wood and metal body. rather like the Dodge A100; the engine was accessible through an inside hatch It debuted in 1957, and ten were built for display at that year's Moscow Youth Festival, leading to a proposed name Festival. RAF management, in a rare move for a Soviet company, created two competing teams to individually design a new van. So RAF tried to persuade the selection committee to adopt the more radical 962-II, and did.
A one-tonne variant was based on a modernized 977D chassis. However, the factory size was not large enough to put this model into mass production, and therefore it was moved to ErAZ (Yerevan, Armenia).
Move to Jelgava, decline and collapse
Construction of a new factory in Jelgava (to build the new 962-II, now known as the RAF-2203 Latvia) was begun on 25 July 1969, and finished in February 1976.
The massive factory created profound challenges for Soviet-occupied Latvia. During its planning, local economists warned that the project was unfeasible in the long term, but were ignored by the Soviet government. Due to a lack of local manpower, workers from all around the Soviet Union were brought to Jelgava, increasing the already high levels of immigration and putting strain on local infrastructure and the ethnic relations between Latvians and the mostly Russian-speaking newcomers. The proportion of Latvians living in Jelgava shrank from 80% to less than 50% during the Soviet times. An entirely new neighbourhood of Jelgava, bearing the RAF name, was built.
In addition, even with the imported workforce, the factory suffered from a lack of qualified manpower: engineers (later on, also conscript soldiers of the Soviet Army) were made to work on the production line. Quality issues were rampant and well-known; on some days, all of the manufactured vehicles turned out to be defective. Even the large factory, in the end, turned out to be too small (with a planned yearly output of just 12,000 cars per year) to install important machinery, slowing down production.
In 1998, RAF went bankrupt. The only part of the company that survived was RAF-Avia, a charter airline set up using the four airplanes owned by the plant. The manufacturing site, complete with machinery and land were purchased by SIA Baltiva, which was established in 2000, for 150 thousand lats. They considered selling it to a western automaker, but this proved unrealistic. As of 2002, the assembly shop was still in order and all the design documents existed, so production could be started again if there should be a need. ErAZ expressed interest, but probably only for the designs.
In 2005, SIA Baltiva was renamed SIA NP Jelgavas biznesa parks ('NP Jelgava Business Park'). Shortly after, the company's shares were transferred to Nordic Partners Properties Limited of the Nordic Partners Group, which was originally financed by the Icelandic businessman Gisli Reyninsson. On the estates purchased, NP Jelgavas biznesa parks developed an industrial park with a total area of 23 ha.
Legacy
Rumors came out in 2018 of RAF being revived, as SIA Rīgas Autobusu Fabrika, RAF was registered in the Latvian company database in August 2018, and was led by Ukrainian businessman Kyrylo Shumeiko. The company stated that they believed they would show off their first new model in 2019 and start production in 2020. It was also believed that the new RAF would focus on electric powered vehicles like vans and trolleybuses.
Surviving prototypes of the plant are on display at the Riga Motor Museum, as well as production models in other institutions.
Models
- RAF-251 - GAZ-51 based bus (1955–1958)
- RAF-8 - Moskvitch 407 based 8-passenger prototype bus (1957)
- RAF-10 - GAZ-M20 based 9-11-passenger bus (1957–1959)
- RAF-982 - experimental bus
- RAF-977 Latvija - GAZ-21 based 10-passenger van/bus/ambulance/taxi (1959–1976). Also made in D, DM and IM models.
- RAF-2203 Latvija - 4x2 4dr van (1976–1997)
- RAF-2203 Latvija (delivery) - 4x2 4dr delivery van
- RAF-2203 Latvija (cardiology) - 4x2 4dr cardiac ambulance
- RAF-2203 Latvija (fire) - 4x2 4dr fire minivan
- RAF-2203 Latvija GAI - 4x2 4dr police van
- RAF-2203 Latvija (mail) - 4x2 4dr mail van
- RAF-2203 Latvija (taxi) - 4x2 4dr taxi van
- RAF-2203 Latvija VAI - 4x2 4dr military police van
- RAF-22031 Latvija - 4x2 4dr ambulance
- RAF-2907 - special car for Summer Olympic in Moscow
- RAF-2914 - 4x2 ambulance van
- RAF-3311 Latvija - 4x2 pickup on RAF-2203 chassis
- RAF-33111 Latvija - 4x2 light truck on RAF-2203 chassis
- RAF Latvija - collector - 4x2 cash collector on RAF-2203 chassis
- RAF Latvija - tourist van, motor home
- RAF M1 'Roksana' Prototype minivan (1991)
- RAF M2 'Stils' Prototype minivan (1994)