Avtovaz Lada Niva (diecast 1:43, Saratov/ Agat)

This is Lada Niva, one of the coolest soviet models in my opinion in scale 1:43. Not only everything opens but the model has also working suspension, front steering wheels and the seats in the front can be tilted.

This legendary soviet car is considered by many observers and experts in the automotive industry to be the best product that came off the assembly line of the Volga Automobile Plant.
In any case, we can say with confidence that this car turned out to be revolutionary and actually filled an empty niche. The idea of creating a compact city car smoothly grew into the development of a real off-road vehicle, which later had an overwhelming success in more than a hundred countries around the world. For more than four decades, an all-wheel drive car based on the Zhiguli has been produced in Togliatti. During this time, the legendary Niva has retained its familiar silhouette, but has become more powerful, quieter, more comfortable and more economical - of course, as far as possible,taking into account the unchanged platform.

The transport system of the Soviet Union was largely "tailored" for the country's economic activities. With cars intended for the transport of goods or people, everything was clear. But a passenger
car for personal use, so that it would please the eye, would correspond, if you like, to fashion trends and at the same time would be quite reliable - there were very few such models for a long time.
And, without a doubt, one of them is the VAZ 2121 Niva.

Four-wheel drive - cheaper

By the end of the 60s, it became clear that an urgent need to design an all-terrain vehicle, moreover, for the needs of the common population. During these years, all-wheel drive passenger UAZs were already produced, but they were not even enough for the needs of the army, so for most motorists such a car remained a pipe dream. And so, in 1970, the then chairman of the Council of Ministers Alexei Kosygin instructed three auto giants at once - AZLK, AvtoVAZ and Izhmash - to create, as he put it, a car "for the village." And VAZ coped with this
task better than its competitors.

At first, the designers thought to take the usual Zhiguli as a basis, increase the ground clearance of the car and equip it with all-wheel drive, but then they decided to make a fundamentally new car from scratch. The result is the world's first comfortable small-class SUV. It is interesting that overseas, jeeps mainly had a switchable front-wheel drive, dependent suspension, frame structure and a very modest interior. Soviet developers have done everything the other way around: permanent four-wheel drive, independent suspension, load-bearing body, and the interior is comfortable and beautiful. However, few people know that the first four-wheel drive "Niva" was made not only for greater stability on the road, but also because it turned out to be cheaper, because ready-made VAZ units were used to optimize production costs.

Fiat 4WD The first running prototypes appeared in 1972. They were tested in the Urals and Central Asia, compared with British cars such as Land Rover and Range Rover, as well as with UAZ 469. The test programs were different - both "passenger" and "off-road". Compared to its competitors, "Niva" felt worse on protracted, difficult-to-pass sections, but on the other hand, it overcame short bumpy sections so dynamically that the testers even came up with a special term - "overflight".

And so that the curious did not pay much attention to the tests of the new mass SUV, the prototypes had emblems of the nonexistent Formika brand, and "in secret" everyone was told that they were testing the new Romanian four-wheel drive "Fiat". Very many, of course, believed in it and passed this rumor from mouth to mouth as an accidental sensation.

And the car somehow immediately turned out to be so successful that they did not postpone its serial production indefinitely. The order to put the car on the conveyor was signed in 1975, and in 1976 its production began. As was customary in those days, the event was timed to coincide with the next party congress. First, they produced 25 thousand cars a year, then - 50 thousand, then - 70. And almost immediately, the car began to be exported, and in huge quantities - up to 80 percent of all models released! By the way, "Niva" was the only Soviet car that was actively sold in Japan.

"Niva" became a kind of pioneer - the first popular all-wheel drive model. Anyone who has watched Soviet advertisements knows that the videos could be very long - ten, twenty minutes talked about a product or even a group of products. A thirty-minute advertising video was shot about Niva as well. In it, the car demonstrated all its capabilities to the builders of communism. And there was something to be proud of, because contrary to popular belief, it was not the Audi designers who first mastered the production of a car with permanent all-wheel drive, but soviet developers.

The first "Niva" cost about 9,000 rubles. However, in the summer of 1979, all Soviet cars rose in price, and interest in a new car, whichnow cost 10,300 rubles, dropped somewhat, so it was decided to return the previous price tag. But the really mass "Niva" all the same did not become immediately - just because most of the models from the assembly line were immediately exported. What remained was scarcity.

Abroad, the "Niva" was very expensive, which, by the way, cannot be said about other Soviet cars that were sold to distant and not very distant countries. The equipment for export models has always been an order of magnitude better than that of cars for the domestic market. They had panoramic mirrors, extended discs, and special rubber. And even the rear wipers were there, whereas on the first domestic cars they usually were not. If we add to this hatches, unusual radiator grilles, winches, headlight protection, foglights and other additional
design details, it becomes clear why our Niva has become legendary abroad.

It was highly appreciated both in the Benelux countries and in the UK. In Germany, for the purchase of "Niva" were registered in the queue, like a "Mercedes". One Austrian automobile magazine wrote about this: "The Russians have carefully analyzed the market and have definitely fallen into an empty niche." And the weather, as they say, was lucky:in 1979, unprecedented snowfalls fell on Europe. Not accustomed to such whims of nature, the owners of elegant passenger cars, and, incidentally, even heavy jeeps, skidding in these snowdrifts, looked at the overpassable Niva with envy. And the soviet SUV did not care about anything.


Export hit

"Niva" was sold in more than a hundred countries around the world, and collected in six: in Latin American Brazil, Ecuador, Panama and Chile, as well as in Greece and even in Canada. In Austria, for several years, this car occupied 90 percent of the off-road segment of the market, and they say that France and England are especially fond of it: there are also Niva amateur clubs there, and even magazines about it are published by admirers.

"Niva" and extreme

Of course, like UAZ in its time, "Niva" won many outstanding victories. For example, in 1998 Niva managed to climb Everest. Of course, not to the very top, but the testers quite successfully and
independently reached the base camp, and it was at an altitude of 5,200 meters. Then, a year later, this record was broken by another half a kilometer - in the Himalayas, on the Tibetan plateau: 5726 meters. By the way, the British also sent their famous Land Rover to the mountains, and it even reached a mark of 5642 meters on Elbrus, however, it did not go there by itself, but was dragged in with cables and winches. Then "Niva" reached the highest point of the sacred Japanese mountain Fujiyama. Then, also in 1998, the Niva conquered the North Pole. It was absolutely enchanting: the "Niva" was lowered onto the Arctic ice with a parachute, and it wound up there and reached the conditional extreme point of the Earth.

An ordinary Soviet "Niva" worked for 15 years in Antarctica. It was brought to the polar explorers back in 1990. And although the total mileage over the years was about 12,000 kilometers, one can imagine the conditions under what it went! After all, there are no roads or heat in Antarctica - only snow. The Red Niva was the first wheeled vehicle to be used for communication between stations. Against the background of all this, the brilliant performances of the Soviet all-terrain vehicle in marathons like Paris-Dakar or, say, Rally Tunis, or Algerian Rally seem to be something self-evident. "Niva" won the African rally "Atlas" in 1984, and then out of 120 cars that started, only a third reached the finish line. And then, in 1986, Soviet racers took all three prizes at the Australian "Vin-Safari". By the way, the participants did not call this event anything other than mockery of people and equipment.

Special versions and modernization

Among the interesting developments, it is worth noting the floating "Niva" intended for the needs of the army. It was successfully tested, but the project remained a project. But visitors to the military automobile museum in Ryazan can see this prototype. Another interesting experimental sample was made in the form of a microtruck and was called "Corporal". And the most unexpected development was made for Yuri Nikulin's circus. This "Niva" could be driven by ... bears. The car was open and simple to operate, and such a number in the circus program really existed.

No matter how wonderful "Niva" was, but by the mid-90s it began to become a little outdated. In 1994, it was proposed to modernize it. This is how "Niva-Taiga" 21213 appeared. With a new engine with a volume of almost 1.7 liters, with a comfortable interior, with a convenient tailgate. For marketing reasons, it was already replaced by the Chevrolet-Niva, aka LADA 4X4. Now it is also assembled in Ukraine and Kazakhstan. But the license and rights to the Niva brand today belong to the General Motors concern, and the price of the domestic SUV has almost doubled, so that the car that recently rolled off the assembly line was already in a completely different segment.

Export shipments of Niva are now small. This is a modification of the VAZ 21215 with a diesel engine from Peugeot. It is adapted to modern environmental standards.

Well, since 2009, a restyled version of the Chevrolet Niva has been released, the design of which was developed by the Italians. The people still affectionately call it "Shnivy", "Shiva" and "Shevik", and although engineers from GM have made more than a thousand minor changes to its design, and outwardly it has become completely different, but still there are a lot of things inside. from the good old Niva, so it's still a pretty patriotic car.