AvtoVAZ will launch production of the updated Lada Vesta in the spring of 2022

by time news

The start of production of Lada Vesta FL (Face Lift – restyling) is planned for March 2022, at the same time the first cars should enter the sales network for presentations and test drives, two federal dealers of the brand told Vedomosti. The distribution of quotas for the sale of new items is planned in April, they say. A representative of AvtoVAZ told Vedomosti that now no forecast for the launch of the updated Vesta has any factual basis, and promised to announce it at the “right time”.

The Lada Vesta car has been manufactured at the Lada Izhevsk enterprise, which is part of the AvtoVAZ group, since September 25, 2015. Vesta is the Volzhsky Automobile Plant’s own development, based on a platform that is different from the other models of the manufacturer. Vesta is available in two body styles – sedan and station wagon, as well as their cross-versions, equipped with a 1.6-liter engine – Russian (106 hp) with a manual transmission or French Renault (113 hp) with a variator … There is also a sports version – Lada Vesta Sport (1.8 liters and 145 liters. From.). The previous most significant update to the model was in the fall of 2019, when the Vesta received a French engine and CVT.

Vesta is the second most popular passenger car on the Russian market after Lada Granta, according to data from the Association of European Businesses (AEB). Between January and October 2021, 98,259 units were sold. Lada Granta in various modifications and 93 121 Lada Vesta cars. This is 1.1% and 10.4% more compared to the first 10 months of 2020, respectively, follows from the sales statistics. Korean Kia Rio follows by a wide margin (70,203 cars were sold in January – October 2021, + 3.3% more than a year earlier).

According to the interlocutor of “Vedomosti” in one of the dealer holdings, the main changes in the Lada Vesta FL will be in the car. The model will receive a digital dashboard, a climate control unit similar to that installed on the Renault Arkana, as well as a large tablet with a touchscreen on the center console, like in Tesla. External changes will affect the design of the front and rear bumpers, LED lighting technology will appear. The range of engines and gearboxes will remain the same, the source says.

Recommended retail prices for the current generation Lada Vesta sedan start at RUB 795,900. for a car in basic configuration up to 1.145 million rubles. for a car in a cross-version with a maximum configuration with a Renault engine and a variator, follows from the price list posted on the manufacturer’s website. A station wagon car will cost at least 892,900 rubles, and its most expensive cross-version costs 1.21 million rubles. Prices for Lada Vesta Sport are in the range of 1.22–1.28 million rubles. AvtoVAZ has already raised prices for its cars six times this year, but each time the indexation was within 1-2%.

Considering that AvtoVAZ’s secondary suppliers of components are mostly foreign, the updated Lada Vesta will be at least 6-8% more expensive than the current model, Sergey Burgazliev, an independent consultant for the auto industry, told Vedomosti.

According to him, when a new product appears, one should not expect sales of cars of the outgoing model range, since demand now significantly outstrips supply. Burgazliev did not rule out that the timing of the start of production of the updated Vesta may be shifted due to delays in the supply of semiconductor components, especially given that the new product is expected to contain more electronics. The semiconductor shortage crisis, which the world auto industry faced at the end of 2020, should pass by the end of next year, the expert hopes.

AvtoVAZ was the first Russian automaker to suffer from interruptions in the supply of microelectronics. During the summer and autumn of this year, the company has repeatedly suspended the assembly of cars in Togliatti due to a shortage of Bosch microchips. But there were no stops at the Lada Izhevsk plant, which Lada Vesta assembles, a company representative told Vedomosti. The carmaker even had to cut the configurations of the Vesta, Xray and Largus models and sell them without a multi-wheel with cruise control and multimedia systems, car dealers of the brand told Vedomosti. Sales of AvtoVAZ, like most other concerns, have been falling for several months in a row due to the shortage of cars on the Russian market. In October, the decline was 31% to 25,573 units, follows from the data of the AEB. But in general, over 10 months of 2021, they are growing – by 11% to 294,422 units – due to high results at the beginning of the year.

The risk of postponing the start of production of the novelty really exists, agrees the executive director of the analytical agency “Autostat” Sergei Udalov. It is important which suppliers for Lada Vesta FL AvtoVAZ is targeting, the analyst notes. If these are traditional suppliers of the plant, which supply a similar range to other auto concerns, for example Bosch, then the likelihood of relocation is quite high, but if we are talking about alternative suppliers, for example, from China, then the risk may be minimal, Udalov told Vedomosti. The situation will also depend on the volume of AvtoVAZ going to release the new product, said Vladimir Bespalov, an analyst at VTB Capital.

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