In 1992, the Minsk Automobile plant was signed a license agreement with the company Neoplan. The result was the model MAZ-101, but its low price and reliability when operating on poor quality roads make it uncompetitive in the CIS market. As a result it was built only five licensed buses in "pure form". The decision was taken to introduce domestic components, adapting the design to local circumstances. This led to the emergence of the step in the back door (two doors remaining steps are missing), but has had a positive impact on price, reliability and maintainability.