The years 2025-26 were without doubts the moments of glory for the BELGEE X50 if we consider the passenger vehicles that are chosen by domestic consumers. The key role played the fact that this car was awarded with the State Mark of Quality following the results of 2025, the highest award in the sphere of quality in Belarus, the most prestigious and desirable for any enterprise in the country. And moreover, it was declared «Car of the Year 2025» by the Belarusian Automobile Association.

But when we choose our «iron horse» we take into account not only the opinion of the experts, but first of all the personal sensations and individual preferences. There is a range of criteria: from the calculating of the car’s safety and economy to trivial «like it or not». And this test X50 passes worthily.

We went to the BELGEE works to see how the new glossy-door «cars of the year» are made from scratch and what are the elements of love for them from the very different people: from the «30 years of driving» motorists’men to glamorous girls obtaining their first licences literally yesterday. 

An ideal car

It is a real quest to take a photo of our «hero» on the works’ finished products warehouse. The cars do not stay there for a long time: the official dealers take them away simply from the assembly line. Just for note, there are about 4 thousand BELGEE cars of four models (S50, X50, X70, X80 PHEV) getting out from the works’ gate in a month. It takes 7 hours in average to assemble one car from body welding to finished car fully prepared for use.

The ambitious aim of the opening high-tech BELGEE works included nothing less than the foundation of the passenger car industry. Today it is a full-cycle enterprise where the cars, who won over the hearts both in Belarus and in Russia, come off the assembly lines: the BELGEE cars are consistently among the top three the most popular light vehicles among Russians.

«The production of modern passenger cars in our country is still very young,» BELGEE Joint Closed Joint-Stock Company (JCJSC) marketing manager Aliaksandr Parniushka highlights. «But today we can say that it works, and it is expanding due to growing demand. Moreover, BELGEE is truly a Belarusian car, with a high degree of localisation. So far, some of the components are supplied from China, but a significant share of them has already been localised. Tires and batteries, glass, sound insulation, and a number of other components are produced in Belarus and at enterprises of the Union State. For about a year now, BELGEE JCJSC has been producing bumpers for its cars. And in 2027 it is planned to put into operation a stamping department, and the car body will be completely localised.

The fact that the X50 model would become the Car of the Year could have been predicted, the manager noted. Firstly, by analysing the high demand for this car. And secondly, given his unprecedented «personal qualities».

«This is an ideal car for our climate. It has a command driving position, it performs great both in the city and on the gravel roads of countryside, it has no problems with operation in any weather, both in damp thaw and in severe frosts. It has high safety criteria as well, which are „hardwired“ into engineering solutions. And besides, this car is really affordable for its class, and dealers have very attractive offers.»

The human factor is excluded

The birth of a car (from seemingly scattered «Lego pieces» to a completely finished model) takes four stages: in the departments of welding, painting, assembly and PDI (pre-dispatch inspection). The above-mentioned «pieces» come from China (although soon they, as we have already said, will be made here at BELGEE) to the welding department. The first stage is welding the engine compartment, the head of the BELGEE JCJSC welding department Ihar Rutkowskij explains. The main processes are robotic, and this eliminates the notorious human factor: the quality of welding does not change at every point of the car body. 400 people and 26 high-tech robots produce 4 thousand bodies per month, and each production stage takes 3 minutes.

Models S50, X50, X70 are assembled on one assembly line: the «smart» line recognises the model thanks to an RFID tag, which is a sort of DNA of the future car that contains all the necessary information like configuration, trim and colour. With this data, the car moves from one department to another, and the automatic lines «understand» what work to perform. Right there, in the welding department, the body is marked with a VIN code, which will be later included in the registration certificate.

«Before installing each part, the worker visually and by touch checks the quality of the external surfaces, the number of connections, the absence of manufacturing defects,» Ihar Rutkowskij explains. «We also have a quality control service in our department, which performs a full audit using a multi-point system: assessment of gaps, differences, tightening of threaded joints and the quality of welded connections. And it even measures the mass of residual impurities on the body: no more than 9 grams are allowed. In the future, these 9 grams will be eliminated in the painting department.

Colour is about aesthetics and status. But the quality of car painting is also the most important issue of long-term maintenance. The painting of cars on BELGEE is also almost completely robotic.

Special pride

The painted bodies arrive at the assembly department. Here the engine, electrical wire bundle and dashboard are installed, glass is inserted, the body is connected to the driveline, the engine is connected to the front and rear subframes. The car obtains its wheels and bumpers. At the stage of final assembly, the suspension is compressed, the car is filled with process fluids (antifreeze, brake fluid, oil, windshield washer), and seats are installed, according to leading process engineer of the BELGEE assembly department Pavel Lastachkin.

The quality of work is controlled at each stage, the interviewee highlights. And in the end, the finished car is sent to a multi-stage quality control line, where everything is checked, from the exterior, interior, comfort parameters to the safety and accuracy of the operation of each system. The car also undergoes safety checks on the test line, where wheel alignment, braking system, high and low beams, sound signal, performance of video cameras, and CO2 emissions are tested.

From the gates of the assembly department the path leads to the testing ground — the test driver is at the wheel. Bumps, figure eight, highway, hill start ramp: everything should work flawlessly in a new car. At the exit of a fully finished car to the warehouse, there is a sprinkler chamber, where water is supplied to the car under pressure. The passenger compartment should not have a single leak.

«I like to take a direct part in the life of the country when helping people meet their needs for high-quality and modern passenger cars,» Pavel Lastachkin says. «It is a specific pleasure to work on the production of a car that has been awarded the Mark of Quality. It is a special pride for all our employees to release such a product. I drive an X50 myself. And in the future, I plan to try an X50+.»

Yes, the works is already updating its legendary crossover. BELGEE X50+ is equipped with a four-cylinder turbo engine paired with a seven-speed robot, the electronic components have been improved, and adaptive cruise control has appeared.

Aleksandra Antselevic

Competent

From the client’s perspective

«When we produce cars, we make each one as if for ourselves,» the deputy head of the technical control and quality department of BELGEE JCJSC Viktoryja Korachkina emphasises.

«All of us, works employees, drive BELGEE, carry our children with it, and recommend it to our relatives and friends. This means you can’t fail. It is no secret that BELGEE products are popular among car enthusiasts, and a big role here is played by the fact that our cars are truly reliable and safe,» Viktoryja underlines.

The company has implemented a quality management system, the specialist explains: there are an incoming inspection of transferred knocked down parts kits, control during the production process in compliance with the «Three Don’ts» rule (Don’t accept, Don’t make and Don’t pass on defects).

«This is a simple but effective solution on which the self-control system is based, when every works employee is involved in the process and is responsible for quality,» Viktoryja Korachkina says. «Control of parameters of the product manufacturing process has been introduced, including an audit of the technical process and an audit of the production process. Every day we also audit the product from the customer’s perspective. This is the most rigorous and powerful tool for evaluating finished products, testing not only safety parameters, but also comfort, design, aesthetics and ergonomics. Validation trials, car safety tests, break-in and final quality control at the finish line make it possible to be sure that all processes are stable and a high-quality car will arrive at the warehouse, and therefore to the consumer.»