Why Did The Soviets Try So Hard To Sell The Lada Riva In The UK

Why did the USSR fight so hard to sell the Lada Riva in Britain, a car the West loved to mock? In 1966, the Soviets licensed the Fiat 124 and rebuilt it at a new factory in Tolyatti to survive brutal winters, thicker steel, drum brakes, even a hand crank starter. Renamed Zhiguli, it became the most desired car in the USSR, with year-long waiting lists. Renamed Lada for export, it landed in Britain in 1974 for £980 and kept selling through the 1980s, peaking at 30,000 units in 1988, even as it became a national punchline.