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2018 Lada Vesta Combi Spied For The First Time, Prototype is Hard To Miss

Lada may not mean much for most of our readers, but the rest of you know that it is a Russian car brand.
2018 Lada Vesta Combi 11 photos
Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
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Back when the Iron Curtain was a thing, Lada used to build cheap cars based on the Fiat 124 platform. Things evolved since then, and the brand is currently recognized for its almost unchanged off-roader, the Niva, which means “field” in Russian.

Currently, AvtoVaz, the parent company of Lada, is a partner in the Renault-Nissan Alliance. This collaboration has led to the creation of cars like the Vesta, which is a family-oriented sedan built in Izhevsk, where a new factory was inaugurated a few years ago.

The Vesta is available with a selection of four-cylinder gasoline engines that do not feature turbocharging technology. The motors come with a Renault-sourced manual transmission, but some are available with an in-house designed five-speed automated manual.

Lada started making the Vesta in September 2015, but the Combi version will enter production in 2018. It was spotted by our spy photographers while it was being tested in Germany.

It comes with tail lights and a rear end that reminds us of the concept car that previewed it back at the 2016 Moscow Auto Show. At that time, the exhibit was an experiment in the direction of a crossover based on a wagon, and it was named Lada Vesta Cross.

The European presence of the Lada Vesta is linked with the ambitions of the automaker, whose managers have decided to enter a few markets in the European Union.

While Dacia, Renault’s entry-level brand acquired in the late ‘90s, rules the affordable segment of the market, the Russian partners of the French conglomerate are interested in attracting more clients.

The Russian brand wants to export its cars to the EU starting 2017, and the Vesta will get Euro 6-compliant engines, along with extra safety equipment to comply with ongoing regulations.

Fortunately, you will not have to place a down payment and wait a few years for a Lada, like people living in communism had to do when the Iron Curtain existed.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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