The development process of the new Lada Niva has been canceled. The departure of the Renault Group from Russia ruins the materialization of a new generation of the iconic 4×4. The project has been kept in a locked drawer and although it is not ruled out that it will be resumed in the future, in the short term the dream of renewing the emblematic Russian car will not materialize.
The departure of the Renault Group from Russia continues to generate headlines. And it is that this decision goes far beyond the simple commercial evolution that the Renault brand had been maintaining in Russian territory. The car company has written off all its assets in Russia. Renault has sold its stake in AvtoVAZ (Lada) to the Russian Automotive Scientific Research Center (NAMI) for the symbolic price of one ruble.
It is important to remember once again that it has established a clause whereby the option of recovering everything in six years is saved. Like many other companies that have been forced to leave Russia due to the economic sanctions imposed, Groupe Renault hopes that the situation will improve in a few years and can therefore return to this market.
Plans to transform the Lada brand have gone to waste
The Renault’s departure from Russia has generated a lot of speculation about what will happen to its models
best sellers, and especially with the Renault Duster. The Dacia SUV is one of the best-selling cars in Russia and, according to the latest information, we can take for granted the continuity of the Duster in Russia under the Lada brand. As far as it goes, this is good news for Russian fans of this model.
But what will happen in the medium term? Let us remember that the Group Renault set an ambitious roadmap for Lada which aimed to transform the Russian brand in the same way that it is doing it with Dacia. Moreover, both companies were called to establish certain synergies. Some synergies that ultimately will not materialize. The main objective was make Lada a more modern car brand and adapted to the times.
Like Dacia, the strategy announced at the time by Luca de Meo himself, CEO of the Renault Group, put the CMF-B platform as the central pillar of Lada’s future product offering. And the main star was going to be neither more nor less than the new Lada Niva 2024. A model that has unfortunately been canceled.
There will not be a new generation of the Lada Niva
The development of a new generation of the Niva opened the door to the return of Lada to Western Europe. This model, scheduled for 2024, was included in a product offensive for 2025. An offensive that included four new models supported by the aforementioned CMF-B platform. In addition to the new generation of the Niva, the development of a new Lada Grand Niva, a Russian alternative to the Dacia Bigster.
New Lada owners will not be able to proceed with this roadmap. Thus, a sad 45th anniversary for the Niva is already looming on the horizon. By the way, the Lada Granta and Vesta will also be updated, although in a completely different context than initially established.
Source: l’argus