Lada Riva - the history of the Soviet automotive industry

Lada Riva - the car of the Russian manufacturer AvtoVAZ. Its release was started in 1980 under the Soviet Union and continues to this day. In European countries, the car entered the market under the name Lada Nova. In Canada, it is better known as Lada 1500 or Lada Signet, and in Brazil - as Lada Laika.

The history of Riva began much earlier than the eighties. Its prototype, the VAZ-2101, which can be called a restyled version of the Fiat 124, was released in 1970. The model line Lada Riva for today includes several cars: the VAZ-2105 sedan, the VAZ-2104 hatchback and the VAZ-2107.

In Russia, the above-mentioned VAZ models are considered to be different cars belonging to one family, which is unofficially called "classics".

On the technical side, the Lada Riva car is almost identical to the first-generation Fiat model. In the legacy Lada received from the predecessor the same complete set of engine, gearbox, shock absorbers and aluminum drum brakes of the rear drive.

However, the main technical restyling came in the 90s. Just then, in order to keep up with the political upheaval of the whole country, progressive-technical upheavals of the model of the domestic car were made, which was supplemented with an injector engine and a catalyst for the silencer.

A strict political regime and tougher security led to the disappearance in 1997 of Lada Riva from the Western European automotive markets. At the same time, production of the model line in Russia continued to function on the basis of AvtoVAZ.

In 2005, the production of the model was divided between several companies. One part of the production was transferred to the territory of the Izhevsk Automobile Plant, and the other part was distributed between Bogdan Group, Lutsk Plant, ZAZ, and Suzuki's Factory.

Several years ago in the UK, the Lada Riva car became one of the most popular budget cars. Riva has never claimed to be the market leader, but they still did, despite the presence of competitors such as Ford Sierra, Vauxhall Cavalier and Austin Montego.

In the early 90's Riva continued to enjoy popularity with the British, but in the next few years, with the arrival of new budget models from manufacturers such as Skoda, Hyundai, Kia and Proton, its sales plummeted.

The situation worsened the need for large investments to adapt Lada Riva cars to the more stringent environmental regulations of the European Union. This led to a decision according to which Lada Riva cars were withdrawn from car markets in Great Britain, Canada and a number of other European countries.

A few years later, the Finnish importer released the modifications included in the Riva lineup, including the Riva Signet, Riva 1200, Riva 1300, Riva 1500 and Riva 1600 models in "E" and "L" classifications, as well as the turbocharged Lada 2107 Turbo.

Back in 2000, the foreign trade company Amal and the partner company AvtoVAZ signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint venture that will collect Lada models, a car destined for the North African market.

Since they did not have their own production, it was decided to start production of VAZ-2107 at the Suzuki plant in Cairo. And in 2006 the production at Suzuki was expanded due to the release of the new model VAZ-2110, which is produced at this enterprise until now.