Last Friday, AvtoVAZ welded the last body of the Lada Priora sedan. Assembly of the model should stop this week. On the assembly line from which the Priora rolled off, only the Lada 4x4 SUV will remain. Drom.ru reports this.
At the beginning of July, a new Vehicle Type Approval (VTA) for the Priora model appeared in the Rosstandart database. It followed from the document that the certification of the model was extended until December 6, 2022, while both 1.6-liter engines of the model were modified. Thanks to this, the Priora can be filled with 92-octane gasoline.
According to Drom.ru, the extension occurred due to an error by the certification body.
At the end of May of this year, top managers of Lada dealerships reported that the assembly of Priora would stop in July, since the model was not included in the production plan.
AvtoVAZ has just sent out a notification to dealers that orders for Prioras, Kalinas, and Grants are no longer accepted and these models will be discontinued.
Let's try to figure out what this means, whether we should rejoice or should we cry.
In general, throughout the reasonable world, the situation looks like this: a car manufacturer develops a platform, often jointly with other manufacturers - it’s cheaper, and produces several models of different classes on this very platform.
For example, a B class hatch, a B class station wagon and three models in the golf class. Often, a couple of crossovers and minivans are also allowed on the same platform. All this is done to unify, optimize and reduce costs.
But you and I live in a wonderful country, we can’t do that, it doesn’t work like that for us. Therefore, VAZ produces only B class models (not counting Niva), even on several platforms! We bend our fingers: Priora, Grants/Kalinas, Largus on the old Loganovskaya, Xray on the new Loganovskaya (Sanderovskaya), Vesta type on its own, but, of course, this is also a modernized B0.
As a result, cars in the B class are on five platforms.
Where the hell is the efficiency? where is the optimization? Well, it’s clear that there is no question of this, hence the colossal losses of AvtoVAZ (based on the results of the first quarter of 2022, the losses are considerable, despite the growth in sales and the increase in share).
There will be no new Lada and Renault yet
Car production has completely stopped, reports the analytical agency Autostat. The assembly of all models produced by the auto giant at the plant in Togliatti has been stopped.
According to RIA Novosti, the reason for the shutdown of all three assembly lines at AvtoVAZ was a shortage of microcircuits used in cars. Representatives of the plant's trade union published confirmation of this information on the organization's page on the Vkontakte social network.
As Avtostat specialists found out, this week some AvtoVAZ cars, in particular the Lada Granta, were produced only on November 9, 2022. The French Renault Logan and Sandero, along with the domestic Lada Xray and Largus, were assembled from November 8 to 11, 2022 inclusive, from November 12, 2022, the conveyor for their production stopped.
As for the Niva SUV, it is not released throughout the week. The only thing, Avtostat specialists, is which of the existing versions of Niva was affected by these forced “vacations”.
The shutdown of AvtoVAZ conveyors will most likely cause a shortage of cars in retail and the usual rise in prices
Autostat experts do not make forecasts on the timing of the resumption of car production in Togliatti.
New priorities: why the production of Lada Priora was closed in Russia
Lada Priora is becoming a thing of the past; the car is not included in AvtoVAZ’s production plans for June. Vedomosti reported this with reference to its own sources. The plant will also stop producing pre-restyling versions of Lada Granta and Kalina. The manufacturer declined to comment on this information to Forbes.
Priora lasted 11 years on the assembly line: a prototype was presented back in 2003, sales began 4 years later. Longevity is generally characteristic of AvtoVAZ models - the Lada 2110, which was replaced by the Priora, was produced for 17 years. However, the record belongs to the Lada 4X4: the model spent more than 40 years on the assembly line without any special changes.
Stuck in time, long-lived VAZ models eventually became sad symbols of stagnation and a red rag for public opinion: model 2105, which belonged to the so-called “classic” generation of the 80s, was discontinued in 2010, including for reputational reasons. The cheap car was in good demand among the population, and even now it would no doubt find its buyer.
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With the arrival of Bo Andersson as president of the plant in 2013, AvtoVAZ set a course for an early update of the model range. Over the course of 2 years, 6 cars were put into production: Granta Liftback, 4×4 Urban, Kalina Cross, Largus Cross, XRAY - and, most importantly, Lada Vesta. She became the first model to embody the new X-Style corporate style, developed by the chief designer of the Volzhsky Automobile Plant, Steve Mattin.
It seemed that the days of the Lada Priora were numbered - it was supposed to be discontinued in 2015, but unexpectedly the model was delayed. “Most likely, the plant was not entirely sure that the Lada Vesta would become a bestseller,” says Artur Sarukhanov, editor-in-chief of the Za Rulem portal. - Therefore, we were on the safe side. Still, Vesta is a model of a different level and a different price tag, to which the traditional Lada buyer is still unusual.”
Soon after the start of production, Lada Vesta became the second most popular AvtoVAZ model after Granta. Priora sales began to decline: if in better times its share in AvtoVAZ’s total sales was 30%, then by 2015 it dropped to 10% and continued to fall. According to statistics from the analytical agency Avtostat, at the end of 2022, Lada Priora took 8th place in the TOP 10 best-selling domestic cars, behind new AvtoVAZ models and ahead only of such specific equipment as the UAZ Hunter and Pickup. The obvious success of the new products is no less obvious that it’s really time for Priora to retire.
“The decision to remove Priora is completely logical. It eliminates “internal cannibalism” in the AvtoVAZ model line, where classmates are forced to compete with each other. In addition, the demand for Priora in recent years has fallen to insignificant amounts,” Igor Morzharetto, director of Radio Strana and automobile columnist for Vesti FM/Radio Russia, told Forbes.
However, in a number of regions, Priora’s position is still strong - this is the Caucasus, recalls Arthur Sarukhanov. “In the southern regions of our country, people are accustomed to servicing their cars themselves. There are no official service centers there. So, the simpler the car, the more confidence there is in it, and AvtoVAZ products in the Caucasus have been thoroughly studied. Of course, by the standards of the automotive industry, Priora is long ago and hopelessly outdated, but Lada Vesta is more “stuffed” with electronics, it has many foreign-made parts - it inspires less confidence,” said the editor-in-chief of the Za Rulem portal. At the end of 2017, Lada Priora is among the TOP 3 best-selling cars in the Caucasus and is a leader in the local used car market.
Finally, the Lada Priora is significantly cheaper than the new AvtoVAZ flagship - prices start at 414,000 rubles, while the Vesta in its basic configuration costs 170,000 rubles more. “Probably, a truly modern car can no longer and will not cost so cheap. So, with the departure of Priora and the old Granta and Kalina, the time of ultra-budget domestic cars is ending,” concluded Artur Sarukhanov.
Unprecedented situation
AvtoVAZ has previously faced the need to suspend production at the plant in Tolyatti. For example, the auto giant had to take this step in July 2022.
However, at that time only the first assembly line stopped working, and then only partially. On this assembly line, the Largus, Logan, Sandero, Xray, as well as Granta and Niva models are being assembled, and the restrictions affected exclusively the last two.
AvtoVAZ reported for the first time that the entire plant was completely shut down due to a shortage of electronic components. This is an unprecedented situation for the manufacturer.
VAZ-2107 discontinued
On April 17, the last VAZ-2107 sedan rolled off the assembly line of the IzhAvto plant. This model lived for 30 years and one month - serial production began in March 1982. The production of VAZ-2106 sedans lasted exactly the same amount of time (1976-2006), but if the “sixes” produced 4.3 million units, the VAZ-2107 sold 3.1 million copies. By the way, the simpler “fives”, the production of which was discontinued in December 2010, produced just over two million: in the post-Soviet period, buyers preferred to pay extra for the more prestigious Zhiguli, and sales of “sevens” were four to five times higher than those of the “fives”.
The VAZ-2107 was a “luxury” modification of the “five” - it had different front seats, front panel, radiator grille, hood, trunk lid and rear lights. On this model, for the first time in the USSR, a single instrument cluster under a common “glass” appeared, and for VAZ, plastic bumpers became a new product, which at first had to be ordered from Italy and Yugoslavia - the domestic industry had not yet mastered the production of impact-resistant plastic. Over three decades, the “Seven” has hardly changed - except that a five-speed gearbox appeared, in the early nineties, central fuel injection was adapted to the 1.5 engine, and since 2008, a modification of the VAZ-21074-20 with a 1.6 engine equipped with distributed injection has been in service.
From the very beginning, the “Seven” was actively exported to Europe, and in the eighties the cars were even delivered to Canada - under the name Lada Signet GL and with more durable “five” bumpers
Not only AvtoVAZ was involved in the production of the VAZ-2107. Back in 2001, large-unit assembly of “sevens” began at the Ukrainian LuAZ, which was later joined by KrASZ, ZAZ and the Kherson plant Anto-Rus. In 2002, production began in Egypt, and in 2008 - in the Chechen Argun. Since April last year, the production of “sevens” with welding and painting of bodies began at the IzhAvto plant, and in August the “classics” finally left the VAZ assembly line, although vehicle kits for the Izhevsk enterprise were still made in Tolyatti.
Today the VAZ-2107 is the cheapest car on the Russian market: AvtoVAZ recommends selling it for 206,900 rubles. But with the end of the state recycling program, buyers’ interest in the “classics” began to decline, and the fateful for the “Seven” was the appearance of the Granta - much more modern and safe, but with a price of 239 thousand rubles. As a result, sales of rear-wheel drive Zhiguli cars in the first quarter of this year decreased by 71%, to 10,082 cars. For comparison, over the same three months, 16,876 Lada Granta sedans were sold. Therefore, AvtoVAZ, which recently owns IzhAvto, decided to stop production of the model. In Izhevsk, they managed to collect 42.5 thousand “sevens” in a year.
In this form, the “Seven” is retiring: without a trip odometer and door sill trims, with simplified interior trim, plastic door handles and a simpler trunk lid from the “Five”
Thus, from the once extensive Zhiguli family, only the VAZ-21041 station wagon remains in service, which is produced by IzhAvto from VAZ vehicle kits. But the “four” doesn’t have long to live either - its production will be discontinued at the end of this year along with the production of Izh-27175 “heels”. And already in August they plan to begin production of Grants in Izhevsk.
Who is guilty
According to Autostat, everything in Tolyatti is not working due to just one supplier -. It is she who cannot yet provide the required volume of supplies of parts, since she herself is experiencing a shortage of components for them.
Why administrators won't notice the migration of data to the clouds
Clouds
The reason for all this bacchanalia lies in the global coronavirus pandemic, which began its spread from Wuhan, China and sent the whole of Russia into the first self-isolation at the end of March 2022. People all over the world began to switch to remote work and buy the electronics necessary for this. Equipment manufacturers had to increase the output of their products, but the companies producing microcircuits for them were not ready for the increased loads. As a result, all of them, and even the giant TSMC, are still unable to organize the production of the required volume of semiconductors.
What to do
According to Avtostat, the management of AvtoVAZ has already prepared a plan to resume production losses and reach previously established vehicle production volumes. To implement it, the plant workers will have to work very hard.
First of all, instead of eight-hour work shifts, they will have nine-hour shifts. The plant also plans to oblige them to work on Saturdays.
Forced downtime will be compensated; workers will be compensated with payments in the amount of two-thirds of the average salary. But all this awaits the workers only after the problems with the components are resolved, and no one knows exactly when this will happen.
