Avtozavodskaya, which means Car Factory, is named in honour of the nearby Ivan Likhachev Car Factory (commonly known by its Russian initials as ZIL). The station was opened in 1943 and was called Zavod imena Stalina up until 1956, as the factory itself was also previously known. The artistic theme of the station is Soviet people during the Second World War.

The walls along the platforms are decorated with eight mosaics. The mosaics on the eastern wall are dedicated to the workers of the ZIL factory. The western wall shows the work and military success of the peoples of the USSR which became possible thanks to the output of the ZIL factory. In addition to the mosaics in the centre of the hall there are also four decorative limestone panels with high reliefs. The eastern wall has panels entitled 'Pilots and Designers' and 'Metal Workers and Engineers'. The western wall has high reliefs entitled 'People of the North' and 'People of the Caucasus'. On 6 February 2004 a suicide bomber killed 41 people and injured hundreds when he set off his bomb on a busy rush hour train in the tunnel between Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya. There is a simple memorial to the victims at the end of the platform near the northern exit.

In the southern vestibule at ground level there is a large mosaic made out of various sorts of marble depicting a parade on Red Square. At the front there are tanks and other military personal of the era of the Second World War, but in the background in front of the Kremlin is the image of a knight from Russia's traditional epic folk stories.