Lada Aura

Lada Aura (Rear view)

Interior

Compared to the Lada Vesta, the car received a wheelbase increased by 25 cm (9.8 in) and extended rear doors. As a result, there is more space for the passenger. The model also has improved sound insulation, a retractable armrest, genuine leather trim and a premium audio system. The Lada Aura will be equipped with a 1.8 L engine making 122 hp (91 kW) and an automatic transmission.^[5] At the presentation of the car, the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said that the Lada Aura "may well replace the foreign brands that Russian officials drive today".^[6]

Mass production is planned to begin in the third quarter of 2024, with plans to produce about 3 thousand cars.^[7] According to the president of AvtoVAZ Maksim Sokolov, the price of the model will be about 2.5 million rubles.^[8]

It is also planned to produce a simplified version of the Lada Aura model, intended for taxi services.^[9][10]

In 2024, Vladimir Putin, driving behind the wheel, opened the last section of the M-11 highway.^[11] After driving a Lada Aura, the Russian president shared his impressions:^[12]

“A good car,” Putin told the online publication Life.^[13]

Lada Aura became the fifth new AvtoVAZ model that Putin tested; in 2010, he drove the Khabarovsk-Chita route behind the wheel of a yellow hatchback Lada Kalina. In 2011, Putin got acquainted with AvtoVAZ's new budget car at that time, the Lada Granta. In 2015, at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, Vladimir Putin arrived in a green Lada Vesta. He noted that it is "an excellent car, very good, with good driving characteristics and easy to drive".^[14]