VAZ
Construction of the Volzhsky Automobile Plant began in 1966 under a contract with FIAT. It was one of the largest automobile factories in the world with an annual design capacity of 660 thousand cars. In 1970, mass production of cars began.
The first Zhiguli were developed by FIAT, commissioned by the USSR on the basis of the 124 model, but in 1977 the plant began production of its first own model – the VAZ-2121 Niva. In 1984, another new development entered the assembly line, which no longer had anything in common with the rear-wheel drive “classic” – the VAZ-2108.
The next large-scale expansion of the model range occurred in the 1990s – then the plant launched the VAZ-2120 Nadezhda minivan and the VAZ-2123 SUV (both models in a small series), and also developed a new Kalina model (in mass production with 2004). Later, the VAZ-2123 was put into mass production with the participation of General Motors.
Since 2012, it has been producing Dacia Logan MCV, adapted for the Russian market and called LADA Largus. In 2015, AVTOVAZ introduced the LADA Vesta and XRAY families. Since 2022, there has been a significant decrease in production, at the same time the XRAY model was removed from the assembly line due to the high share of imported components.
Families
The family began with three models developed by FIAT for the USSR: VAZ-2101, VAZ-2102 and VAZ-2103. On their basis, the Volzhsky Automobile Plant developed and produced the VAZ-21011, VAZ-2106, VAZ-2105, VAZ-2107, VAZ-2104 cars.
The all-wheel drive VAZ-2121 became the first major independent development of VAZ. It combined the comfort of a passenger car, off-road performance and low cost, so it became popular and is still produced today.
The VAZ Sputnik family of front-wheel drive vehicles was developed in close cooperation with Porsche (design) and UTS, a subsidiary of FIAT (technology). The platform developed for these cars became the basis for new VAZ models for many decades.
The family of new front-wheel drive VAZ cars began to be developed in 1985, when the VAZ-2108 “Sputnik” entered the assembly line. Due to economic difficulties associated with the collapse of the USSR, these cars entered production only in the second half of the 1990s.
The Lada Nadezhda minivan began to be designed back in the late 1980s, and in the 1990s and 2000s it was produced in small volumes as a commercial product. Unfortunately, VAZ never decided to seriously invest in this project, and “Nadezhda” never emerged from the status of an “industrial prototype” – a production, but poorly designed and manufactured car.
The Kalina family grew out of a project in the early 1990s, which first involved FIAT and then oligarch Boris Berezovsky. In 1997, the first running model appeared, made in the spirit of biodesign. In 2004, the car went into mass production, receiving a calmer appearance.
This car has many names: VAZ-2123, Niva-2, Chevrolet Niva, Niva Travel. In fact, this is the second generation of the famous Niva (VAZ-2121), developed since the second half of the 1980s. VAZ was able to begin small-scale production of this car itself, but it only entered the assembly line with the participation of General Motors.