Tula Muravei

The Tula Machine-Building Plant began making its T‑200 “Tula” scooter in 1957: 199 cc, 8 hp and 80 km/h (50 mph), with an electric starter, painted bright blue. By one popular account it was based on the Goggo 200 scooter of Hans Glas GmbH, the Bavarian firm that went on to build the Goggomobil, with larger, 254 mm (10 in) wheels for Soviet roads.source 1 In 1959 a cargo version, the TG200, joined it. It was not yet called the Muravei, the Ant.source 2source 3

It was a three-wheeler with the scooter in front and a load platform behind: one wheel at the front, two at the back, driven by a chain in a sealed case to a differential and on through swinging half-shafts.source 2 In January 1960 Tula’s chief designer, A. Pototsky, wrote in Za Rulyom that cargo scooters were a new type of transport for the Soviet Union. He listed their virtues as low weight, a relatively large payload and low fuel use, and a turning circle under 2.5 m (8 ft), so that one could work inside workshops and warehouses; versions with insulated bodies were to be tried that year.source 4

A scooter for each Ant

Each new Tula scooter brought a new Ant. The TG200 was built on the T‑200, the TGA200 on the T‑200M, the TGA200-01 on the Turist, and the Muravei-2 01, 02 and 03 on the Tulitsa and Tulitsa-2; the 03 was the last model as of 1991.source 2 The odd part was the reverse gear, which sat in the differential housing. People who build home-made all-terrain vehicles on low-pressure tyres, the karakaty, still look for it.source 2

In June 1978 Za Rulyom reported that the TGA-200K had been coming off the line in recent years. It had an open platform of 1,250 × 1,130 mm (49 × 44 in), 600 mm (24 in) off the ground, and carried 250 kg (550 lb); there was a micro van version too, the TGA-200F. Now it was sold to private buyers too, for 775 roubles, and aimed at gardeners, dacha owners and villagers.source 5

The last models were the 5.402 series. Their 199 cc fan-cooled two-stroke gave 11 hp through four speeds, for 60 km/h (37 mph). The platform model weighed 258 kg (569 lb) dry and carried 340 kg (750 lb), the van 375 kg, and the whole machine was 2,880 mm (113 in) long.source 2 No period road test has been found. Russian Wikipedia credits it with a strong payload, reasonable strength and decent ability on rough roads, especially with bigger wheels taken from hay rakes or quad bikes.source 2

After 1995

A diesel engine, the TMZ-450D, was developed for it in the early 1990s, but production ended in 1995.source 2source 3 The name came back in 2020, when the works began selling four-wheeled electric carts, the VTS-01 with a diesel generator and the VTS-02 with a battery, at 1.25 million roubles; a revival had been under discussion since 2016, and a prototype was built in 2017.source 2

No survivor count has been found, but many Ants are still at work in the countryside, and spare parts are still made, some in China. A used one cost about 50,000–60,000 roubles in 2021.source 2source 3 That September a Yekaterinburg owner fitted a 250 cc Zongshen engine to his and set off from the Urals for Crimea.source 3 The UGMK museum complex at Verkhnyaya Pyshma shows one among its Soviet scooters; no club or auction results have been found.source 2

Russian Wikipedia lists it in Soviet and post-Soviet films, among them Мама вышла замуж (Mama Got Married), Очкарик and Чебурашка, and in the series Участок, and in Kyrgyzstan it has advertised national drinks.source 2 Ants have been photographed in museums in Molėtai, Lithuania, and in Donetsk, and one was selling kvass in Kolomna in 2026.