AvtoVAZ halts production due to a drop in Lada sales
Russian automaker AvtoVAZ will suspend production amid falling demand for Lada cars.
This is according to reports in the Russian media.
Officially, the company attributes the pause to “production modernization” ahead of the launch of a new model—the Lada Azimut crossover.
At the same time, dealers note that the real reason is overstocked warehouses due to low demand.
According to sources, the downtime could last from late April to mid-May.
Against this backdrop, Lada sales in the first quarter fell by more than 17%, despite overall growth in the Russian auto market.
KamAZ is facing similar problems and plans to switch to a four-day workweek due to declining sales.
Russia’s largest automaker, AvtoVAZ, has revised its plans for February 2026, cutting its expected sales volume by 15%.
After three years of unexpected economic growth, Russia is facing a sudden slowdown—war costs, inflation, and falling oil prices have begun to weigh on an economy that until recently seemed resilient to sanctions.
