In place of the Priora: how Togliatti is preparing to make a new model
AvtoVAZ unveiled the millionth car produced by the company after the departure of its foreign shareholder in 2022. This is a demonstration that the plant has recovered from the knockdown caused by anti-Russian sanctions and problems with components. Production is deployed at full capacity, with a car rolling off the assembly line every 25 seconds. In addition, preparations for the production of the new Lada Iskra are almost finished. Izvestia correspondent visited the shops of the giant enterprise in Togliatti.
Robot Antonina
Cranked iron limbs easily rotate in the air large body panels and businesslike weld them together. Small robots roll on the floor, they drag a large train of carts with parts behind them. The robots are colored under gzhel and khokhloma - a peculiar tradition of the Russian plants of the Renault Nissan alliance.
AvtoVAZ is keeping up with the times - the new cart, named Antonina, will play a song about itself created by a neural network as a warning signal. Later, Antonina will be paired with Anton. Within two years the number of carts is planned to increase from three hundred to 650-700 pieces. This will save millions of rubles.
Robotization allows not only to save money, but also to weld a geometrically accurate body. The most affordable and simple "Granta" has the most high-tech production, the level of automation reaches 85%, and in the near future it is planned to reach 90%. Now 385 robots and more than 300 people per shift are working on the welding line of "Granta", the production runs in two shifts.
The conveyor produces 60 bodies per hour, the "Granta" sedan accounts for half of them, another 30% - for the Cross station wagon and 20% - for the liftback. Of this number, 54 bodies go to the main assembly line, and six - to small-scale production: Lada Sport, "Chechenavto", "VIS".
The Vesta line is only 30% automated, but even here they use solutions that facilitate the work of the plant's employees. The carts with parts, which are carried by robots, move together with the conveyor, and in some areas ergo-tracks have been introduced, which also move at the same speed as the conveyor. Among the innovations - a manipulator, throwing the spare tire into the trunk, in the future the robot will feed the conveyor and the rest of the wheels.
Now a separate line produces 40 bodies of "Vesta" and five Lada Aura per hour. The latter is gaining momentum - it was the millionth car, and in December they plan to collect about one and a half thousand "Aura".
All cars coming off the assembly line are tested on a new indoor track, created in 2020 instead of the old street track. The 300-meter track has everything to check the quality of car assembly and the work of its units: and lying policemen, and paving stones, and turns.
Here was "Priora"
The new Lada Iskra has its own line in the shop where VAZ-2105 sedans of the classic family and "Priors" were cooked before. Earlier the novelty was planned to be assembled on the same assembly line with "Granta". Now the new line is 95% ready, and so far test bodies are running on it. There are few people, and some welding operations are already performed by robots. The head of AvtoVAZ Maxim Sokolov said that the level of automation will reach 37% in two stages. This is a high level for such a volume of production, Sokolov pointed out.
Lada Iskra bodies will be stamped from Russian metal, and 70% of parts will be galvanized, including all exterior panels (except the roof). 30 copies of Iskra will come off the assembly line per hour, 11 thousand cars will be assembled per month and 120 thousand cars per year. The sedan model will account for half of the production volume, and another 25% - for station wagon and Cross. AvtoVAZ representatives emphasize that the line is flexible, it can assemble up to six different bodies and cars on different platforms.
Plans and piranhas
About the start of production of the car they say neatly - "in the first half of the year". Although the AvtoVAZ Board of Directors has set a target of 500,000 cars for 2025, Maxim Sokolov drew attention to macroeconomic factors negatively affecting the market: the Central Bank's key rate, tightening of car loans and the ruble exchange rate. He admitted a possible price increase from the beginning of the year. In addition, AvtoVAZ has become an unwitting hostage of the price war between Chinese manufacturers.
"Chinese companies, like piranhas in our pond, have arranged a squabble among themselves for our sector. The fact that we still hold about 30% of the market is a great achievement. If the market shrinks, we will adjust," explained the head of AvtoVAZ. According to him, the scrappage fee does not work yet, and the Chinese car industry has imported about 500 thousand cars, which are still pressing on the market.
"When they will be dismantled, we will fight in the open - taking into account the barriers that are justifiably set by the customs and tariff policy, and the scrappage fee. And then we will switch conveyors to another speed," explained the head of AvtoVAZ. According to Sokolov, the breakeven production of the plant is not less than 400-420 thousand cars.
The head of the company confirmed plans to produce about 12 new modifications and models until 2030. In summer they plan to present a crossover on the platform of "Vesta", then AvtoVAZ will develop a minivan. The "Niva" family will get a new motor, and the existing power units will be modernized.
Flexible approach
- AvtoVAZ can be scolded for the narrowness of the model range, for the fact that the models are crowded on one patch, eating themselves up. However, the plant started working just two months after the foreign shareholder left, and localization of the average model was 60% at that time. And it started to produce simplified, but demanded cars," says Igor Morzharetto, partner of Avtostat.
AvtoVAZ not only assembles cars, but is also seriously engaged in production, says Maxim Kadakov, editor-in-chief of Za Rulem, who visited the plant.
- They were engaged in the air conditioning system, coatings, ceilings, unified color solutions. This is the culture of production, which affects the result. I can also see that they are preparing for a flexible production schedule, with different variants of events. They will be able to change the mix of models even on different threads, to produce Iskra both here and there, depending on what happens with other models," Kadakov noted.
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