New Lada

No thoughts on this but I wanted to thank you for reminding me of all those early 1990s Lada Jokes:

How do you double the value of a Lada?

Fill up the tank.

Why do Lada station wagons have rear window demisters?

To keep your hands warm while you push them.

How do you get your Lada to 0 to 60 in under 10 seconds?

Push it over a cliff.

And finally - I went to the service station and said to the guy 'Can I get a new rear view mirror for my Lada?' and he replied 'Sounds like a fair swap.'

I saw that brand new Lada Nivas are assembled in Ecuador. They're the top competition for the Chevrolet (Suzuki) Vitara also assembled there. Vitaras are so popular there they have their own column in the used car listing.

Lada produce Niva now with the brand of Chevrolet, though it was designed by Lada. It cost cheaper than the other offroad cars (in Russia - $9000).
You can check some photo here:
http://nivaclub.nm.ru/english/foto.htm
http://www.gm-avtovaz.ru/en/information/foto_arhiv.php?id_section=37

I think it's interesting that despite being cheap the seventies and eighties Ladas were built with full time four wheel drive.