Russian Automaker AVTOVAZ Celebrates 45th Anniversary

One of the biggest European car manufacturers, Russian AvtoVAZ, celebrated its 45th anniversary with an exhibition in Moscow. Visitors experience a historic chronology with models ranging from old to new.

The 45th jubilee by "AvtoVAZ"— a Russian automobile company better known by its trade name "Lada"—is celebrated in Moscow.

July, 1966 is said to mark Lada's first emergence.

The exhibition on the theme of "AVTOVAZ: Development Chronology" opens in the factory's museum to showcase the company's success.

On display is the VAZ 2101, a compact sedan introduced in 1970—an icon of its time, unique swimming swamp vehicles, and even a car that set a world record in Antarctica.

Here, visitors can catch a glimpse of nearly all models and their novelties created across the generations.

Since 1970 AVTOVAZ has released more than 26 million cars, making it one of Europe's largest car factories.

One of the latest developments by AVTOVAZ is the model LADA Granta, which will go on sale later this year.

The new budget Granta is an enhanced creation on the model Kalina, the second latest development by AVTOVAZ.

The Granta has an improved ability in coping with demanding weather conditions and is also economic on running costs.

LADA Granta will replace classic models by AVTOVAZ when later models go out of production in 2012.

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"We expect this model will occupy an almost empty niche—full-sized estate cars with high capacity that fit within the economy class. There are no other such cars in Russia."

Russians are looking closely at the price-quality ratio.

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"Current models of AvtoVAZ are much better; their quality can be compared to foreign cars."

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"If the price is more expensive, at least plus 100,000, we will look instead at foreign cars that are made in Russia."

Today AVTOVAZ produces around one million cars annually, being responsible for over 25% of Russia's car market.

NTD News, Moscow, Russia.