* Russia to halt production of last Classic this year
* Decision ends an era, symbolises auto industry’s decline
* Classic became outdated, faces foreign competition
By Timothy Heritage
MOSCOW, May 3 (Reuters) – Russia is ending its long love
affair with a car that was once prized by the nation but has
come to symbolise the decline of its automobile industry and,
for some, the country itself.
The decision by state car maker AvtoVAZ to halt
production of the last models in the Lada Classic series this
year after four decades is more than just the end of the road
for an automobile.
Although the outmoded box-like series of family cars is
ridiculed abroad, many Russians consider it a last link with an
era when they believed the Soviet Union could win the Cold War,
and see its demise as a sign of Russia’s diminished status.
“It’s a case of national affection. For many years in Soviet
times the Classic was an unattainable dream for many men. It was
very hard to get hold of one and people waited in queues for
years,” said Vyacheslav Lysakov, a member of parliament and the
head of a motorists’ association, Free Choice.
“A lot of things from that (Soviet) time have already gone
and the Classic was one of the remaining links.”
AvtoVAZ halted production last month of the seventh model in
the series, the 2107, leaving only one Classic in production –
the 2104 station wagon. The company said it was also “time to
say goodbye” to that model at the end of this year.
Lada is often the butt of jokes abroad because of its square
shape and reputation for breaking down when you least want it
to. One joke asks: How do you double the value of a Lada?
Answer: By filling the tank.
Jeremy Clarkson, host of the British TV car show Top Gear,
memorably called the Lada 2107 “simply the worst car ever”.
Style-conscious young Russians would not be seen dead in one.
But many middle-aged and elderly Russians regret the
Classic’s passing and see bad omens for the future.
“It was the best-designed car in the world. You won’t see a
more beautiful car,” Alexander Fyodorov, a 65-year-old
architect, said as he strolled across Moscow’s Red Square.
“Russia has gone off course since then. The Russian auto
industry has been destroyed. I blame it on 12 years of Putin,”
he said, gesturing towards the red walls and golden domes of the
Kremlin where Russia’s long-term ruler, Vladimir Putin, will
start a new six-year term as president on May 7.
DEAL WITH FIAT
Under a deal with Italian car company Fiat, the first Lada
Classic 2101 was produced in 1970, based on the Fiat 124
four-door sedan which was popular across Europe.
The Classic, or Zhiguli as it is also known in the former
Soviet Union, was a big hit in a country where car ownership
itself was a status symbol and Western brands were not on sale.
Resourceful owners, used to shortages and shoddy quality of
manufactured goods in the Soviet command economy, made do with
what they had and soon learned how to fix the car themselves.
Its simplicity was a selling point, so was its ability to
keep going in the severe cold. In later years, its low price and
durability made it attractive, especially in Russia’s provinces.
“I love my car,” said Nikolai Dashkevich, a trained mechanic
in Moscow who has a 25-year-old white Lada 2105, the fifth in
the series. “More than half the parts are the original ones but
it’s done more than 1 million kilometres (625,000 miles).”
AvtoVAZ officials said the seven cars in the series had
sold more than 17.75 million vehicles by March of this year.
But AvtoVAZ has struggled against foreign competition since
the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Side by side on the
streets with hulking SUVs favoured by the nouveau riche, it
became a symbol of the gap between rich and poor.
AvtoVAZ bowed to the inevitable last month by halting
production of the 2107 after 30 years, even though the current
starting price is low at 206,900 roubles ($7,000), provoking
furious debate among car lovers in Russia.
“Let’s be reasonable and not dream of AvtoVAZ continuing to
produce models without changing them for 30-40 years,” wrote a
contributor to an online forum who gave his name only as Sony.
But many contributors disagreed. “AvtoVAZ has personally
handed the market for budget cars to the Chinese auto industry,
surrendered without a fight,” wrote one named only as Maxim.
TOUGH TIMES
Times are tough for Russian carmakers even though Frances’s
Renault and Japan’s Nissan will take control
of AvtoVAZ under a deal with state company Russian Technologies.
Lada sales fell 15 percent year on year in the last quarter
and AvtoVAZ is recalling nearly 100,000 new Ladas because of
technical faults, including 70,000 Lada Kalinas, a model Putin
promoted by driving it 2,000 km across Siberia in 2010.
Putin also tried to promote the new Lada Granta last year
but took several attempts to start it when he test-drove it.
The decline in the national car industry is all the more
galling for domestic producers as Russia is on track to become
Europe’s biggest car market by the end of the decade, driven by
rising incomes and a surge in consumer spending.
Car sales are expected to grow about 6 percent this year to
2.8 million vehicles and reach 4 million by 2015.
Renault, General Motors and Ford are
among global players in the early stages of expanding sites or
moving into those owned by Russian partners.
Many Russian experts are not optimistic for the future,
saying Russian cars simply do not compete with foreign brands
but some say increased competition will benefit consumers.
“Despite all the criticism of the authorities that you hear
now, a new auto industry has been built on Russian soil, an
industry which produces Ford, Volkswagen, Renault,
Hyundai cars and so on,” said Alexander Pikulenko,
auto industry commentator for Ekho Moskvy radio station.
“The main thing is the consumer can get a good product
that’s reliable, safe and cheap.”
Some Russians, however, are unlikely ever to be appeased.
“You see all these fancy foreign models in Russia now but we
used to be proud to drive our own cars,” said Nikolai Peshkov,
a businessman from Izhevsk, the city where the last 2107s were
made in Russia. “I suppose there was no real choice then, but
the Zhiguli was the real dream. If you had one, you had
respect.”
