VAZ

The company history of the VAZ begins on July 27th, 1966, when the government decided to build a big automotive factory with an annual production capacity of 600.000 in the region of Kuibyschewr (today Samarar).

In August 1966 an agreement was signed with the Italian manufacturer FIAT, that would provide equipment, technology and licenses for the car production. the vice-minister for the automotive industry of the USSR, Wiktor Nikolajewitsch Poljakow, became the director of the plant. In total, 40 ministries were involved in the construction of the plant.

In January 1967 the construction of the plant began and already in April, the first "Shiguli" vehicles were assembled, which today are known as LADA.

The basis for the model development was the Fiat 124, which was at the time in 1966 recognized as the best in its class. The VAZ-2101, launched in 1970, promised to become a national beststeller, it only required regular maintenance after driving a distance equal to 10x the distance between Moskau and Wladiwostok.

OAD "AVTOVAZ" is the biggest Russian and easter European producer of passenger cars. The large capacities of the factory allow an annual production of more than 750.000 vehicles. From 1970 until 2003, about 22 mio. cars were manufactured, out of which 600.000 were of the family series Lada 2110, produced since 1997.