The head of AVTOVAZ explained the meaning of the Lada Iskra release in St. Petersburg

The economic sense of launching Lada Iskra production in St. Petersburg in parallel with the release of the model in Togliatti is to balance the company's production capacity. This was stated by the head of AVTOVAZ Maxim Sokolov, the correspondent of Izvestia reports on September 18. He shared that in the future, another Lada model may be launched at this enterprise.

"When the Iskra consumption market reaches its maximum, and this depends on the market as a whole and the balance between two budget—class models — Iskra and Granta — in accordance with our medium-term strategy, we plan to increase Iskra production and systematically reduce Granta production depending on market needs," Sokolov said.

Now AvtoVAZ can produce as many cars of any model as the market needs, even taking into account exports, the top manager noted. Lada cars are produced at four factories: not only in Tolyatti and St. Petersburg, but also in Izhevsk and Chechnya. AVTOVAZ expects that the market will recover to the parameters of 2022, and maybe (with optimistic forecasts) until 2013.

"Then there won't be enough capacity to produce Iskra in Tolyatti, and here St. Petersburg will get, as they say, wind in its sails. In general, the plans for the development of the project in St. Petersburg suggest other models based on our own technology platforms," Sokolov shared.

By the end of the year, the company in St. Petersburg plans to produce more than 3 thousand copies of Lada Iskra, and next year - about 1 thousand units per month. The vehicles will be oriented to the north-west of the country and the surrounding regions.

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The first Lada Iskra test drive

Earlier that day, it was reported that mass production of Lada Iskra cars had started at the Avtozavod Saint Petersburg production site. Locally assembled cars began to be shipped to the Lada dealer network. Sales of Lada Iskra started on July 20.

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