VAZ

The Volga Automobile Plant is the largest producer of passenger cars in the Soviet Union and in Russia. It was founded in 1966 in Tolyatti and built together with the Italian company Fiat, with Italian specialists on site throughout.

On 19 April 1970 the first six VAZ-2101 Zhiguli cars came off the line — a version of the Fiat 124 adapted to Soviet conditions. The car was substantially reworked compared with its Italian prototype: the body, suspension and transmission were all strengthened for Russian roads. The VAZ-2101 immediately became the people's car of the USSR.

Through the 1970s the plant added a whole family: the VAZ-2102 estate, the VAZ-2103 and the VAZ-2106, exported under the Lada name. In 1977 the VAZ-2106 arrived and became one of the most numerous Soviet cars. In 1977 the plant also launched the VAZ-2121 Niva, a production four-wheel-drive car with a unitary body and permanent four-wheel drive — an idea nobody else had put into series production. The Niva is still exported to dozens of countries. In 1984 the plant moved into front-wheel drive with the Samara family, the VAZ-2108 and VAZ-2109.