LADA: 50 Years of Jokes With No Sign of Stopping
“How do you double the value of a Lada? You fill the gas tank!”
“First prize: One Lada. Second prize? Two Ladas!”
“How do you avoid speeding tickets? Drive a Lada!”
The Lada badge with its little ship emblem comes with jokes as surely as it comes with wheels and doors. These laughs at the auto’s expensive survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and are ubiquitous across the internet and generations; even Lada owners and fans will happily rag on the sub-par quality and non-existent craftsmanship. They left the factory with horrific paint runs, massive gaps in the bodywork, and plain pressed-steel wheels; how did a car that is such a global laughingstock become so successful in the international market?
Few things are more Russian than Ladas. The Cold War competition between the US and USSR drew Soviet attention to some interesting figures: in the United States there was one car for every 2.7 people, in staggering contrast to one car for every 238 people in the USSR (Whitter et al. 2014). The heads of state wanted a vehicle for their people that was primarily functional above all else, something that came without the unnecessary extra bits and pieces that smacked of the bourgeoisie. The Soviets were phenomenal at engineering supersonic aircraft and producing vast quantities of tanks, tractors, and other heavy equipment, but they had almost no experience engineering passenger vehicles. The Department of Automotive Production were forced to look outside the Eastern Bloc to find someone willing to work with them. It made sense, then, that they found a partner in Italy, a nation with deep-seated communist sympathies (Whitter et al. 2014). The Soviet Union’s first car company, AVTOVAZ, opened its doors in 1966 as a collaboration between the Italian automaker Fiat and the Soviet Department of Foreign Trade (Renault Group, 2021).
The first car to roll out of the AVTOVAZ factory in Tolyatti with technical assistance from the Italians was the VAZ-2101 Zhiguli, a no-nonsense sedan that entered the market in 1970 (Leaman, 2002). It was based on the extremely popular Italian Fiat 124 and underwent about 900 subtle alterations to make it both more simple and capable of handling rough Russian roads, including square headlights, a bigger radiator, thicker bodywork, and a stronger floor. The factory itself was considered the finest example of Soviet car-making technology and processes, and its production of the Lada eventually outpaced even Henry Ford’s Model T (BigCar, 2020). Because there were so few automotive repair shops in Russia at the time, the Zhiguli was designed to be easily maintained and fixed at home or on the road by keeping the design uncomplicated and accessible (Whitter et al. 2014). Shortly after the model became available in foreign markets, it was decided that the name should be changed and in 1973 it was re-designated as the Lada, an appellation meaning “something beloved” in Russian.
The brand-new Lada 1500S was priced competitively and quickly sold in over fifty countries around the world, including a complete sell-out to Canada, the US’s very close neighbor, where initially it was only sold in Ontario. Consumers were buying the model so quickly that they were not even given a choice between the six colors offered and were happy to wait over a year for delivery (BigCar, 2020). The Lada handled well in the Canadian winter (and automotive market) due to how it was specifically-engineered to handle cold-weather climates. It even outperformed the Honda both in price and sales, which proved startling to automakers worldwide (Malcom, 1978). Even though trade sanctions prevented the soviet car of the people from coming to the US, it sold to a wide variety of nations, from the wealthiest to the poorest. Margaret Thatcher’s Britain experienced severe economic downturn and social disruption in the late 70’s and early 80’s as the nation’s industrial complex declined; the Lada Riva, with its low, low pricetag, became the tenth best-selling vehicle in the UK as a practical symbol of the struggle of the British working class, particularly in the North and Midlands (Whitter, et al. 2014). When Fernando Collor, president of Brazil, lifted the ban on imported automotives in 1990, and for two years Lada outsold every other carmaker on the market. These are only a handful of examples; at their peak, they could found be anywhere in the world that traded with the USSR (Motor Trader, 1995).
The Lada’s international success was an absolute boon to the Soviet economy with over 60% of cars manufactured being sold across borders (Autoblog Canada, 2011). One of the results of Soviet economic policy was a severe lack of hard currency within the nation, and exporting the Lada outside of its borders served as a way to acquire the cash needed to make large agricultural and industrial purchases and to import Western technologies (Malcom, 1978). Between 1980 and 1990, Ladas even served as bartering tools with some countries. One of the most notable of these arrangements include a deal with Coca-Cola, in which the drinks were traded for vehicles and the Ladas were then sold in the United Kingdom for cash (Feist, 1999). Despite its international accomplishments, the celebrated yet- wouldn’t be enough to challenge the USSR’s economic insecurity.
Similarly to the Volkswagen Beetle, the Nazi car of the people, the Lada survived the passing of the regime that ordered its creation. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 31, 1991 and the implementation of emissions restrictions by many nations, Lada sales and production plummeted. While German VW adapted to meet the changing needs of a modern world, Russia’s situation ended differently. Since the collapse of the USSR, Russians have experienced a shrinking middle-class and a wider gap between the wealthy and poor; trade relations with the West and China remain shaky and it can be difficult for the average person to get a new car. This means that people will maintain what they already have, and because Ladas were the state car they are ubiquitous and inexpensive (Maladrelli, 2019). In 2007, the French company Renault Group purchased a quarter of AVTOVAZ with the intention of cornering the European market, expanding their Russian market, and taking advantage of the Lada’s fame; they faced competition from General Motors, Fiat, Ford, and Volkswagen to make the deal, although these companies can and do partner with AVTOVAZ from time to time (Michelson and Byanski, 2007).
Since then, the automaker has released new models that maintain the spirit of the original Ladas: they’re accessible, compact, and uncomplicated, much like their forebears, but we can certainly expect some welcome updates (Lada Russia, 2021) that might take the jokes down a notch or two. Despite the upgraded looks and features of the still-profoundly Russian brand, the original shape and styling of the Soviet Lada remains an evocative reminder of the odd journey of a goofy little peoples’ car.
Works Cited
“АВТОВАЗ: 50 Лет Истории.” АВТОВАЗ | 50 Лет Истории (50 Years of Lada), Lada Russia, https://50.avtovaz.ru/timeline.html#.
“A Lada Car for the Money No More.” Autoblog Canada, Evergeek Media, 6 Sept. 2011, https://web.archive.org/web/20140714172816/http://ca.autoblog.com/2011/09/26/a-lada-car-for-the-money-no-more/. Wayback Machine.
BigCar. “The Soviet ‘Tank’ That Invaded Britain.” BigCar, YouTube, 10 Oct. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWPHnKLi0Hw.
Whitter, Tom, et al. James May’s Cars of the People, Amazon Prime, 10 Aug. 2014, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3772506/e+people&qid=1638566515&s=instant-video&sprefix=james+may+car%2Caps%2C169&sr=1-1. Accessed 3 Dec. 2021.
“Discover Lada.” LADA, a Groupe Renault Brand , Renault Group, 2021, https://www.renaultgroup.com/en/our-company/our-brands/lada/.
Feist, William R. Managing a Global Enterprise: A Concise Guide to International Operations. Quorum Books, 1999.
Leaman, Michael R. (2002). “Riding the Survivors of the Soviet Union”. In Wollen, Peter; Kerr, Joe (eds.). Autopia: Cars and Culture. Reaktion Books. pp. 164–5. ISBN 978–1–86–189132–7.
Malcom, Andrew H. “Soviet Cars Roll in Canada.” The New York Times, 7 Nov. 1978, p. 1, https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/13/archives/soviet-cars-roll-in-canada-first-shipment-of-lada-1500s-is-sold-out.html. Accessed 3 Dec. 2021.
Maladrelli, Nicholas. “An Economic Question: Why Are Russians Still Driving Lada?” BORGEN, Borgen Magazine, 2 Apr. 2019, https://www.borgenmagazine.com/russians-still-driving-lada/.
Michelson, Marcel, and Gleb Bryanski. “Renault Buys Quarter of Russian Lada Maker Avtovaz.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 8 Dec. 2007, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-renault-avtovaz/renault-buys-quarter-of-russian-lada-maker-avtovaz-idUSL085131720071208.
“1994 Registrations by Manufacturer.” Motor Trader Magazine Motor Industry News, Motor Trader Magazine, Mar. 2011, web.archive.org/web/20110714120955/http://www.motortrader.com/general-news/1994-registrations-by-manufacturer/. Wayback Machine.