AvtoVAZ

AvtoVAZ (Russian: АвтоВАЗ, IPA: [ɐftɐˈvas]) is a Russian state-owned automobile manufacturing company. It was formerly named as VAZ (ВАЗ), an acronym for Volga Automotive Plant in Russian (Во́лжский автомоби́льный заво́д, Volzhskiy avtomobil'nyy zavod). AvtoVAZ is best known for its flagship series of Lada vehicles. In the Soviet Union, its products used various names, including Zhiguli, Oka, and Sputnik, which were phased out in the 1990s and replaced by Lada for the Russian market. From December 2019 to August 2020, AvtoVAZ sold Niva cars with Chevrolet branding. AvtoVAZ was established in 1966 by the Soviet government as a state-run car manufacturer. It was privatized in the 1990s and was a subsidiary of Renault from October 2016 to May 2022. In May 2022, it was re-acquired by the Russian government. The company is indirectly owned by Russian state enterprises through Lada Auto Holding.