"Much higher than the threshold of 1 million rubles, at a price": AvtoVAZ plans to start production of more expensive cars

AvtoVAZ President Nicolas Maure said that the Lada automobile brand will enter a higher price segment within the next five years.

According to Mora, the manufacturer intends to start updating the Lada model range in the coming years.

“Now, starting from 2023 to 2026, we will enter the cycle of updating the model range.

These will be absolutely new models, ”TASS quotes him.

In preparation for the release of new models, a deep modernization of AvtoVAZ production sites in Togliatti and Izhevsk is underway, as well as an update of the engineering base.

“These models, they will bring the Lada brand to a slightly higher price segment in comparison with the current model range,” explained Mor.

He added that the manufacturer will continue to offer "reasonably affordable cars" that are "at the lower end of the price segment."

“But at the same time, in the next five years, we plan to go much higher than the threshold of 1 million rubles in price,” he said.

According to Mora, the first stage will be when the cost of cars will reach the level of 1 million rubles, and the second - from 1.2 million rubles.

"Lada will not only be a fairly affordable brand for consumers, but it will also be a brand that provides consumers with good characteristics, good product properties for the appropriate money," he concluded.

Note that now Lada takes the first place in terms of sales volume among car brands presented in Russia.

In May 2021, more than 38 thousand Lada cars were sold, while the sales volume of the closest competitors - KIA and Hyundai - amounted to about 19 and 16 thousand, respectively.

Also on russian.rt.com AvtoVAZ suspends production of some cars for several days

Taking into account the effect of the low base, Lada sales increased by 146% compared to May 2020.

Since the beginning of this year, the manufacturer has sold over 160 thousand cars, which is 53% more than in the same period in 2020.

In the first ten of the most popular models on the Russian market, four positions are occupied by Lada models.

In the first place in this rating is the budget family of Lada Granta models, in the second - the Lada Vesta family.

Commenting on AvtoVAZ's plans to enter a new price segment, Viktor Pokhmelkin, chairman of the Russian Motorists' Movement, noted that price has traditionally been the key advantage of Lada cars.

“In all other respects, they were losing significantly.

And in the image including, and in the history of the issue.

Everyone remembers what a domestic car is.

In my opinion, this is a very risky step.

How justified it will be - we'll see.

But I'm not sure that with a significant rise in prices for traditional domestic cars, they will be able to withstand competition, "the expert suggested in an interview with RT.

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According to Pokhmelkin, AvtoVAZ had its own segment, which was represented by buyers willing to make certain compromises in order to purchase affordable cars.

“As soon as they try to move to another segment, more expensive, they immediately face competition.

In another segment there are high-quality cars, in my opinion, more attractive, which have earned a certain reputation, "Pokhmelkin believes.

He also mentioned that AvtoVAZ has historically enjoyed government support.

Pokhmelkin suggested that if it persists in the event of the launch of new, more expensive models, in particular, in the form of discount programs, then the project may be effective.

Autoexpert Igor Morzharetto, partner of the Autostat analytical agency, believes that the expansion of the AvtoVAZ model range, including into other price segments, is a matter of the manufacturer's survival.

“A company cannot live with an old, cheap lineup.

Today all Lada models are in the same price category and in the same class.

Then a class C car will appear, the consumer will have a choice.

A consumer who is accustomed to the Lada brand should have a choice, ”Morzharetto said in an interview with an RT correspondent.

According to him, today's choice in the Lada model range is too narrow.

Morzharetto noted that in order to be present on the market, it is now necessary to have "conventionally not five models, but seven, and in different classes, in different niches."

“For AvtoVAZ, this is not a whim, not a desire to earn more money, but an attempt to find its place in a new, changing world,” the expert concluded.