CarBrandLogos archive · Lada · 1980
For most of the 1980s, Britain's cheapest new car, and it lasted into the 2010s.
Discover the storyPhoto: Charles01 · CC BY-SA 3.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Lada Riva, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The Riva name covered the second wave of Togliatti's Fiat-derived saloons: the 2105 from 1980, the 2107 from 1982 and the 2104 estate from 1984. Underneath, all three were reworkings of the VAZ-2101 structure with squared-off bodywork, plastic-faced bumpers and revised interiors. The 2107 sat at the top of the range with a chrome grille and better trim, and was sold as something approaching a luxury Lada.
Free lada 2105 vfts · Ellesmere FNC · CC BY 2.0
02
In export markets the appeal was arithmetic. Through the 1980s the Riva was routinely the cheapest new car on sale in Britain, and it undercut small hatchbacks by a wide margin while offering a full-size saloon body, rear-wheel drive and a boot. What buyers accepted in return was old engineering, heavy steering, indifferent rustproofing and performance that had been adequate in 1970. In much of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa it was simply the standard car, valued because anything on it could be fixed by anyone.
IZH- 2 · Олег73рус · CC BY-SA 4.0
03
Engines ran from 1.2 to 1.7 litres, all four-cylinder petrol units, with a 1.5-litre diesel offered late on. Assembly took place at Togliatti and Izhevsk in Russia, in Chechnya, in Egypt, in Kazakhstan and elsewhere.
VAZ 2107M - 0248 · ShinePhantom · CC BY-SA 4.0
04
The last Russian-built cars left the line in 2012, more than four decades after the design first appeared, with Egyptian assembly continuing to 2015. The front-wheel-drive Samara and the 2110 family were supposed to replace it from the mid-1980s onward. They did not, for a long time, because the Riva was cheaper and everyone knew how to keep one running.
At a glance
Produced
1982–2012Engine
Petrol engineBody
2-door Pickup truckTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the Riva's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Lineage
Contemporaries from the 1980s
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