Lada cars have an established market position in Russia and some export markets, but the cars disappeared from many Western European markets in the 1990s when they failed to meet EU emission regulations, parts became scarce and the cars became increasingly outmoded. Ladas were a victim of the fallout of the collapse of the Soviet Union. But a modest return is taking place in Germany.
Lada’s tagline in Germany was once that it was ‘the nine-minute limousine’:
- ‘The German Economics Institute has calculated that the average German worker only has to work nine minutes a day to earn 3.15 DM. For that, you can almost get a Lada Samara.’
In recent years there have been signs of a modest return, on the back of some more modern product, such as the Kalina.
AvtoVAZ has said it plans to increase its car sales in Germany 30% on the year to 2,400 cars in 2008.
In 2007, LADA Automobile GmbH, which imports AvtoVAZ’ Lada cars to Germany and Austria, increased its sales in Germany 30% on the year to more than 1,900 cars.

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By GlobalDataAvtoVAZ said its sales in Germany in the first three months of 2008 were 25% – 30% higher than a year earlier.