Lada Vesta

The Lada Vesta is a subcompact car produced by the Russian car company AvtoVAZ since 2015. It was presented in August 2014 during the Moscow International Automobile Salon and went into mass production on 25 September 2015 in Izhevsk.

Bo Andersson, President and CEO of AvtoVAZ, was responsible for improving overall operations and quality at AvtoVAZ, enabling the Lada Vesta – AvtoVAZ' first completely new platform in several years – to launch on-time and with the highest crash safety rating in its class.

Within days after the Lada Vesta went on sale in November, it became one of the best-selling cars in the Russian market. In 2018, Lada Vesta became the Best Selling Car in Russia.

Lada introduced a station wagon and a "Cross" version of the station wagon, with higher ground clearance, in September 2017. A "Cross" version of the sedan, with more ground clearance than a Toyota RAV4, arrived in the first half of 2018.

In September 2022, the president of Lada, Maxim Sokolov, announced the creation of two new Lada models, one of them to be a crossover on the Vesta built on the Lada B/C platform of Renault conception, and the other a separate Lada family of B-segment cars "on a global platform". The new Vesta would be the first new model to be launched after the transition of Vesta production from Izhevsk to Togliatti.

Technical details


As standard, the car has an airbag, anti-lock braking system with brake assist, electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), electronic stability control, traction control system, hill start assistant, ERA-GLONASS emergency system, tilt/telescoping adjustable steering column, remote controlled car central locking system with folding key, trip computer, car alarm, 15 or 16-inch wheels and full-size spare tyre, making it one of the most equipped models in the entry-level segment in Russia. The Lada Vesta gets side airbags in 2016.

Production of the Vesta started on 25 September 2015 at AvtoVAZ's Izhevsk manufacturing site. The first mass production Lada Vesta was a car of the Comfort trim-level, equipped with a 1.6-litre engine and a manual transmission. Sales started on 25 November 2015. The car is one of the carmaker's flagship models.

The Lada Vesta is sold on Russian, Azerbaijani and Kazakhstani markets. AvtoVAZ also commenced Vesta exports to the European Union, to countries such as Germany, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia in early 2017. The sale of the SW and Cross versions started a year later. The EU-spec Lada Vesta meets Euro 6 emissions standards and offers additional safety equipment. Only the 1.6-litre engine was sold in the EU. Exports to the European Union ended after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Packages
The Vesta was formerly available in three basic complete sets - base Classic, average Comfort and top Luxe. In all trim levels, there are options. For the complete set of Classic - Start, for Comfort - Multimedia and Image, for Luxe - Multimedia.

Lada's newest Prestige option, which includes the Multimedia package and 5 additional items of equipment that increase the comfort of the driver and passengers. These include a folding rear armrest with cup holders. To recharge the gadgets the passengers will be helped by a power USB socket in the central armrest, which is located between the front seats. On the same armrest are the controls for heating the rear seats and tinted rear windows. Also, the Prestige package provides atmospheric illumination of the interior: several LEDs are located in the niches of the feet of the front passengers, on the console and on the upholstery of the doors. Integral equipment LADA Vesta in the maximum configuration with the package Prestige - multimedia system with navigation (7-inch color display with Touchscreen, FM / AM with RDS, USB, SD card, AUX, Bluetooth, Hands free, 6 speakers), on the screen which displays the image from the rear view camera. The Prestige package is available for LADA Vesta sedans in the Luxe package with the following power units: 1.6-liter manual transmission (from 746,900 rubles), 1.8-liter manual transmission (from 781,900 rubles) and 1.8-liter automated manual transmission (AMT) (806,900 rubles).

The 1.6-liter engine produces 106 hp-metric, while the larger 1.8 has 122 hp-metric.

Variants
There are several variants of the Vesta:

Sedan
 * Vesta Sedan - 5-seat passenger sedan.
 * Vesta Cross - 5-seat passenger cross-country sedan.
 * Vesta Sport - 5-seat passenger sedan with factory tuned 145-horsepower engine. The official premiere will be held at the Moscow International Automobile Salon, which opens on 29 August 2018 in the Crocus Expo complex.

Station Wagon
 * Vesta SW - 5-seat station wagon.
 * Vesta SW Cross - 5-seat off-road wagon.
 * Vesta SW Sport - 5-seat passenger station wagon.

Alternative fuel
 * Vesta CNG is a modification that allows using two types of fuel: compressed natural gas (methane) and gasoline.

Racing
The Vesta raced for Lada Sport in the FIA World Touring Car Championship between 2015 and 2016, and later with privateer RC Motorsport in 2017.

In March 2015, Lada grabbed the pole position for Race 2 of the Argentina WTCC, with a Rosneft Vesta TC1. During its time in the championship the Vesta claimed four race victories with Gabriele Tarquini, Nick Catsburg and Yann Ehrlacher driving.

Safety
The car scored 14.1 points out of 16 in a frontal crash test conducted by the Russian ARCAP safety assessment program in 2016, and was awarded four stars out of four.