First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov has claimed that AvtoVAZ’s new models—the Lada Iskra and Lada Azimut—are fully competitive in their segment. It is unclear what data or reading of market conditions he relied on to reach these conclusions. They do not square with the actual situation.
The Lada Azimut exists only as a set of prototypes. Its mass production and market launch are penciled in for the middle of next year, with no guarantees—judging by past precedents and the plant’s current state. As a result, it is impossible to assess any “competitive advantages” when there is nothing on the market to compete with yet.
As for the Lada Iskra, priced at roughly 1.5 million rubles, it fares poorly against the similarly classed Chinese Jetour X50, which sells for about 1.2 million rubles. The Jetour offers a 6-speed automated transmission, lane-keeping assistance, 360-degree surround-view cameras, LED lighting, parking assist, climate control, a large digital control cluster, a tire-pressure monitoring system, eco-leather trim, ABS, a rollover prevention system, a sunroof, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and much more—features that the Iskra lacks and, due to its design, is unlikely to acquire. Unsurprisingly, sales in the first month (July) were minimal: despite incentives, only 25 cars were registered, 24 of which were bought by corporate customers.
Meanwhile, roughly 500 billion rubles in budget funds have been channeled into the domestic auto industry (primarily AvtoVAZ) over the past three years, including 350 billion rubles in 2024 alone. The return on this investment—measured by the production of modern, competitive passenger cars—can hardly be called effective. Rather, it looks like highly unprofessional spending that does nothing to bring Russian cars up to even a modestly competitive level. The impulse to “report success” by presenting wishful thinking as reality has repeatedly put Manturov in a difficult position, drawing criticism from the President (over the auto industry, civil aviation, and waste-processing plants). The volume of complaints about the First Deputy Prime Minister’s performance is approaching a critical mass, setting the stage for a personnel reshuffle—potentially a move to AvtoVAZ or Rostec.
