LADA C IN GENEVA 2007 ( Watch the video story )

LADA-C is conceptual design on the basis of the new platform, which is developing in cooperation with Magna International Inc. and will become the base for the whole range of new LADA models. This class-C family will include sedan, hatchback, universal, compact van and cross-over with engines 1.6 – 2.0l. In September 2006 at Moscow International motor-show for the first time LADA presented the new family sedan, its name was Concept C, and today in Geneva there is a debut of 3-doors hatchback with a typically sports character.
Concept-car design illustrates the process of searching for the new style of future Lada vehicles and now we know that this design will comply with the latest requirements. The new LADA family from the very first stage realizes fundamentally new level of basic consumer characteristics – safety, reliability, comfort. In particular, form the very first stage the vehicle is developing with the purpose to obtain the maximum number of points for safety, not only for driver and passengers but also for the pedestrian safety. The results of tests, carried out according to a procedure similar to EuroNCAP, show that prototypes comply not only with the existing but also with prospective requirements for passive safety

Styled by a team of young Russian designers, Lada's striking concept coupe is a fair bit sportier and more modern-looking than many other new C-sector cars on show in Geneva, like the Hyundai i30 and Kia Cee'd. Check out that Mitsubishi Evo X-style nose... Lada's new range of small family-sized cars should be fine under the surface, too, as development of their underpinnings has been contracted out to the consultancy Magna International. The range will eventually include three- and five-door hatchbacks, saloons, an estate, a compact MPV and a crossover, and engines between 1.6 and 2.0 litres in capacity.

Lada, part of the extensive AvtoVaz manufacturing concern, says it is focusing on safety, reliability and comfort - but on the basis of this concept, desirability might even come into it. One for those with a penchant for post-glasnost Soviet chic, perhaps? No word on availability in Western Europe as yet, but why else would Lada be at Geneva?