Lada /

Lada is the trademark of AvtoVAZ, a Russian car manufacturer in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast. All AvtoVAZ vehicles sold currently are of the Lada brand but this has not always been so. Ladas were AvtoVAZ's export vehicles, the same models being sold under the Zhiguli brand on the domestic Soviet market since 1970. The brandname Lada was borrowed from a famous Czech manufacturer of sewing machines in the 1960s. They became extremely popular during later decades in Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly the former Soviet bloc countries where they have become a symbol of city life. From cities like Prague to Havana, Cuba Lada cars are a very common automobile on the urban landscape. Lada made its name in Western Europe selling the Fiat 124-based VAZ-2101 and its many derivatives as an economy car in large quantities during the 1980s, but later models were less successful. The common Lada sedan/estate, sometimes known as the Classic in the west (Signet in Canada), was partly based on the 1966 Fiat 124 sedan, and became a successful export car. The keys to its success were: competitive price as an export, reliability, simple DIY-friendly mechanics and unpretentious functionality. Since 1980