Why are some VAZ cars called "Zhiguli", and others - "Lada"? My grandfather says that "Lada" are "luxury" modifications of VAZs. Who came up with these names and what is encrypted in the logo?
When the construction of a new small car plant began in the Soviet Union in 1966, it turned out that coming up with a name for it was almost as difficult as building a workshop.
If you give the enterprise a name by analogy with other allied auto giants (GAZ, KrAZ, MAZ), the abbreviation will turn out to be dissonant. This not the most important question at that time remained open, and the company under construction in official documents was called the "Factory for the production of passenger cars in the city of Togliatti." The current name of the auto giant was involuntarily suggested by the employees of the Fiat company, with the technical assistance of which the Soviet construction was underway. To shorten the above-mentioned phrase, the Italians began to write in their specifications "Plant on the Volga". Veterans of Togliatti recall that after that, from the beginning of 1967, the name “Volzhsky Automobile Plant” - VAZ - took root.
And the whole country came up with the name of the car. An all-Union competition was announced, the results of which were summed up on November 1, 1968. Among the ten thousand proposed names, there were also not entirely appropriate ones: "Carnation", "Argamak", etc. One hundred variants reached the "final". And the godfather of the mass Soviet small car, they say, was the then secretary of the regional party committee, who approved the name "Zhiguli" for the VAZ-2101 and other models of the "classics" - after the name of the mountainous area near Togliatti.
"Geographic" names were often given to the products of the Soviet automobile industry, but soon an overlay "surfaced" with "Zhiguli". When they began to prepare export deliveries of the VAZ-2101, it turned out that in some European languages there is a very similar sounding word "gigolo", which was called a young man leading an antisocial lifestyle. Then in the department of foreign economic relations "VAZ" came up with a foreign name for "Zhiguli" - "Lada" (Lada). This primordially Russian word means "beloved", it is simply written and sounds good in all languages. This name became the foreign pseudonym "Zhiguli", and with the renewal of the model range, it began to be used in the domestic market. Since last year, all VAZ cars have been called Lada.
Together with the VAZ-2101, the trademark of Togliatti cars was born: a boat under sail, made in the form of the letter B - the capital letter of the plant's name. Since then, the emblem on the Lad's radiators has changed several times, but the stylized boat on the Volga smooth surface invariably remains.
Igor Shirokun
Photo by Sergey Kuzmich and AvtoVAZ
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Upland on the right bank of the Volga *, skirted by its bend. Height up to 375 m. One of the most beautiful places on the Russian Plain *. The toponym Zhiguli has been used since 1934 in the name of beer produced in Samara *, and then in other cities of Russia ... ... Linguistic and Cultural Dictionary
Zhiguli (mountains)- Zhiguli (Zhiguli Mountains) is an upland on the right bank of the Volga, bend around the bend of the river (the so-called Samarskaya Luka). Zhiguli mountains from the side of Togliatti Contents 1 Geography 2 Ecology ... Wikipedia
automobile- car, car, auto, wheels, wheel, wheelbarrow, piece of iron, iron, little car, suitcase, tires, iron horse, tin, motor, (iron, four-wheeled) friend, (auto) chassis, member carrier, van, convertible Dictionary of Russian synonyms ... automobile… … Synonym dictionary
Zhiguli- I pl. Mountains on the right bank of the Volga. II pl .; = Zhiguli A passenger car of various models produced by the Volzhsky Automobile Plant. Efremova's Explanatory Dictionary. T.F. Efremova. 2000 ... Modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language by Efremova
Lada- Zhigul, VAZ, Zhigulenok Dictionary of Russian synonyms. lada noun, number of synonyms: 5 car (369) vaz ... Synonym dictionary
VAZ-2101 car- On April 19, 1970, the first model VAZ 2101, popularly nicknamed a penny, rolled off the assembly line of the Volga Automobile Plant (VAZ). Already in the first year of operation, the plant produced up to 1.5 thousand cars a day. The kopeck has become one of the most massive and the most ... ... Encyclopedia of Newsmakers
Automobile- (Cars) Contents Contents 1. The history of the first car 2. The history of the brands Aston Martin Bentley Bugatti Cadillac Chevrolet Dodge Division Ferrari Ford Jaguar 3. Classification By function By size By body type By displacement ... ... Investor encyclopedia
Zhiguli
Zhiguli- I Zhiguli Zheguli, a hill on the right bank of the Volga, bend around the bend of the river (the so-called Samarskaya Luka), in the Kuibyshev region of the RSFSR. Height up to 375 m. Length about 75 km. Represents the southern raised wing of the fault, stretching ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Zhiguli- Zhigul and, to her (geogr.) And Zhigul and, to her (car) ... Russian spelling dictionary
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More than forty years ago, the Togliatti VAZ-2101, as a result of the All-Union competition announced in the press, received the melodic name "Zhiguli". Russian people associate it with the beautiful Zhigulevsky mountains on the banks of the Volga, where the reserve of the same name is located.
Renaming for overseas buyer
Alas, for one part of foreigners the word "Zhiguli" is practically unpronounceable, for another it is associated only with the word "gigolo", and therefore has an extremely negative connotation. To release a car with such a derogatory "nickname" on the international market meant to doom the enterprise to collapse in advance. It is unlikely that a respectable Italian or Bulgarian family would buy a Gigolo for themselves as a family car.
In this regard, the management of the plant in Togliatti decided to rename the VAZ-2101 to "LADA". The name is euphonic, does not cause any unpleasant associations and is easy to pronounce for the vast majority of foreign buyers. And for the Russian ear, it sounds very pleasant.
The new name turned out to be so successful that it firmly took root in both the foreign and domestic markets. Now all the products of the car plant are called LADA. Only the name of a specific model is added to the general name: “LADA Priora”, “LADA Granta” and so on.
And how are they?
The problem of the complexities of interpreting one name in different languages periodically arises for absolutely all brands that produce products for international sale. This issue is specially studied by marketers in order to prevent the occurrence of annoying misunderstandings that can have depressing consequences for the business.
The story of the Japanese Mitsubishi Pajero SUV is widely known. Despite the chic characteristics of the car in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, for some reason it was not in demand at all. Then the marketers of the manufacturing company did a little research and found out the reason for this ignorance.
It turned out that for the Spanish-speaking citizens of the planet, the word "pajero" sounds like "pajero", which means "masturbator". The car was urgently renamed "Mitsubishi Montero" and finally began to be in demand among the Spaniards. [C-BLOCK]
Another example of such annoying blunders, entailing multimillion-dollar losses, is the name "Toyota MR2" of another Japanese autogrand. Despite the seemingly harmless abbreviation MR2, the name of a sports car sounded extremely unpleasant for the French. In France, it is pronounced "merde", which means feces. Not a single Frenchman even thought of keeping such a machine in his garage.
The name is a delicate matter. Before releasing any product on the international market, you should study the linguistic characteristics of different peoples very well.
Italians, friendly to the Soviet Union, were instructed to build a new modern automobile plant in Togliatti. The agreement signed by the Ministry of the Automotive Industry of the USSR with the Fiat concern in August 1966 meant not only the construction of a full-cycle enterprise, but also equipping it with equipment, as well as personnel training. The new production was named "VAZ" - the Volzhsky Automobile Plant.
The emblem for the VAZ models was to be invented by Soviet designers. The idea to place a boat on the badge, like the sketch of the future logo itself, belongs to the employee of the capital's management of the plant, Alexander Dekalenkov. Italians were commissioned to make emblems for cars. Incidentally, an incident was connected with this. The first three dozen logos were issued by Fiat with an error - instead of the letter "I" in the word "Togliatti", the Italians wrote "R". The curiosity did without scandals - the defective logos were urgently replaced.
From the first days of work, the Volga auto giant did not experience any problems. The demand for cars was such that sales were limited only to production volumes. After about a year of operation, the plant produced 100,000 "kopecks", and after another two and a half years, the millionth "VAZ" rolled off the assembly line.
FIAT-124 became the prototype of the VAZ-2101. Externally, the VAZ-2101 differed from FIAT only in more massive bumper fangs, recessed door handles and, of course, emblems. But the stuffing of the Soviet car was different in many ways.
FIAT-124 was not a technical revelation even in the mid-1960s. The classic layout, dependent rear-wheel suspension, four-speed gearbox are no better than most competitors. The undercamshaft engine was also in line with the trends familiar to the mass car of those years. But the VAZ-2101 engine, although it retained the working volume of the Fiat engine, received a different center-to-center distance and an upper camshaft in the block head - this innovation was just insisted by the Soviet delegation, which visited Italian factories and noted that FIAT was actively developing motors with upper shafts.
VAZ 2101
This innovation will then strongly backfire on the reputation of VAZ cars, when the camshafts begin to fail en masse - the problem will be solved far from one year later. In the meantime, the design of the gentle 124th is being actively processed for the harsh Soviet way of life. The operating conditions of the car were assumed to be tough, so the diameter of the clutch disc linings was increased from 182 to 220 mm, the gearbox was reworked, the rear suspension was changed, "removing" the shock absorbers from the springs - to facilitate their subsequent replacement.
Disc brakes were abandoned at the rear, since on the roads of the Soviet outback they were heavily soiled and worn out quickly. By the way, later, FIAT, on the descendants of the 124th, returned to the rear drum brakes. Reinforced ball joints, springs, in many places - the body. An opening for the winding handle appeared in the front bumper (it was again abandoned starting with the VAZ-2105), and towing eyes under both bumpers.
VAZ-2105
In the 1970s, the VAZ-2101 and its successors were quite competitive even in the Western European market. After all, in principle, buyers received the well-known FIAT at a significantly lower price - dumping was the basis for the success of Soviet cars from the very first years of export abroad. In the socialist countries "Zhiguli" were generally in short supply - for example, in the GDR, in order to receive the coveted car, one had to stand in line for more than ten years.
VAZ-2103
A lot of the novelties of automotive technology in the USSR first appeared on a massive scale on the "Zhiguli". Before the VAZ-2101, disc brakes were installed only on passenger ZILs. In 1972, a vacuum brake booster, a tachometer, and an electric clock were installed on the VAZ-2103. In 1975, the headrests of the front seats appeared on the "six". In 1980, on the VAZ-2105 - the first "Zhiguli" with completely new (except for the roof) body panels - an engine with a timing belt drive, block headlights combined with side lights and direction indicators. Two years later, the VAZ-2107 appeared with anatomical seats equipped with built-in head restraints.
VAZ-2107
In addition to the base 1.2-liter engine, versions 1.3 were later released; 1.5 and 1.6 liters, differing in diameter and piston stroke. In the 1980s, a five-speed gearbox appeared on Zhiguli. VAZ was the first in the USSR, albeit in small-scale production, to produce modifications with a single injection (VAZ-21073) and a diesel engine (VAZ-21045).
But by the end of the second decade of production, "Lada" looked like newcomers from an ancient era against the background of classmates. The salon is cramped, the engine power is small, the brakes are weak. Carbureted engines did not meet the increasingly stringent environmental regulations. All this was exacerbated by a decline in the quality of components and assembly.
VAZ-21073
The last "Lada-2107" (the name "Zhiguli" quietly went out of use), the production of which was discontinued in Togliatti in the summer of 2011, has retained the main features of distant ancestors. The main difference: the 73 hp injection engine. with. at 5300 rpm (the carburetor version developed 77 hp at 5600 rpm), corresponding to Euro-3 standards. In all other respects, this was no longer the model whose owners were less fortunate in the early 1980s, sighing enviously. During post-perestroika modernizations and optimizations, it was gradually simplified in detail and beyond. In recent years, the differences between the fifth and seventh models have been mainly limited to external design.
"Kopeyka" began to be delivered abroad in 1973. Then the "export" brand "Lada" appeared. As it turned out, the name "Zhiguli", which was worn by all VAZ cars, is consonant among the French with the word "Gigolo". Therefore, it was necessary to rename the export "Zhiguli" in "Lada". Subsequently, cars for the domestic market also began to be labeled with Lada, subsequently completely banning the name "Zhiguli".
With the arrival of the nineties and the collapse of the USSR, the plant faced a previously unheard-of concept - "competition". Against the background of criminal wars for control over VAZ, which claimed hundreds of lives, a stream of used foreign cars poured into the country. Decades of existence without competition hampered the development of the automobile giant, and VAZ cars hopelessly lagged behind foreign ones. The Russians lost interest in Zhiguli, and the plant had to reduce the volume of car production. The state tried to solve the problem by raising customs duties on the import of used foreign cars, but this did not help.
After years of searching for a way out of the crisis, he was found in collaboration with Renault-Nissan. In 2008, the alliance became the owner of a 25% stake in AvtoVAZ. In the same year, AvtoVAZ got a new chief designer - Steve Mattin. Previously, he held similar positions at Mercedes and Volvo.
September 7 marks 40 years since the day when the VAZ-2101 car was named "Zhiguli".
According to the generally accepted version, the name of the Togliatti car appeared as a result of an all-Union competition announced in the press. There were about 30 thousand letters and telegrams in total. The State Commission selected eight pieces, and a designer named Cherny proposed one more - "Zhiguli". It was this that was approved by the government.
However, there is another version that belongs to the designer Gennady Lyakhov. In mid-February 1967, the general director of the Volga Automobile Plant and (concurrently) Deputy Minister of the Automotive Industry of the USSR, Viktor Polyakov, set for Boris Pospelov, deputy chief designer of VAZ, the task of coming up with a name for a car that will be produced at the new plant. Two days later, about eight names were put up for voting. A Zhiguli was added to them at the suggestion of the designer Cherny. As a result of voting in two rounds, the name "Zhiguli" was chosen, which was approved by Polyakov.
But as soon as the Soviet "Zhiguli" began to be produced for export, a problem immediately arose with the word "Zhiguli", which is familiar to the Russian ear. Foreigners not only could not pronounce it correctly, but it also had obscene consonances in several languages at once!
It was decided to come up with a new name for the export vehicles of the Volga Automobile Plant. In 1973 a new name "Lada" appeared - beautiful and simple. Now "Lada" is the main brand of AVTOVAZ, which he promotes, calling his developments new names, but always remaining loyal to Lada.
Over the past years, AVTOVAZ has created more than 100 models and modifications of cars. A lot of names have also changed: Samara, Bora-21, Niva, Sputnik, OKA, Elf, Gnome, Rapan, Golfkar, Karat, Peter-Turbo (roadster), Lada-Aero, Antel, LADA Revolution, Silhouette. Connoisseurs also remember the modernized versions with proper names - Yellow Shark, Red Bee, Bullet - exclusive cars based on VAZ-21106.
The creators of the tuning kits also contributed to the creation of a variety of names: Carlota, Nova, Nika, Grossmeister, Lada Bis, Lada Lady, Rally Sport, Apal, Euro, Katran, Courage, Lada TMS, Stealth, Titan, Tom Cat, Tornado, Styer , Aerokit, Elegance, Everest, Taiga, Oka Lady, AKS, Phantom, Neon, Favorite, Shark, Leon, Niagara, Real, Trasser, Galant, Grand.
In the new millennium, the company has pleased motorists with several new models, which, according to the manufacturer, already meet European standards. So, in 2004, the first car of the Lada Kalina family rolled off the assembly line (models VAZ-1117, VAZ-1118, VAZ-1119). And in 2007, the country saw the first Priora (factory designation VAZ-2170), which began the family of Russian cars of class "C" according to the European classification.
