The factory producing the cars is called VAZ. On the domestic market Lada is called Zhighuli[?]. They also produce cars called Oka, Tarzan and Nadezhda[?], in addition to the Samara and Niva.
While the vehicle's basic designs were OK - indeed, at the time the Niva had superior mechanicals and suspension setup to comparably-priced small Japanese SUVs - the quality of manufacture was typically below-par. Whilst sanctions banned their export to the United States, they were available in several Western countries, including Canada, where they became the butt of jokes, for example:
Q: How do you double the resale value of a Lada?
A: Fill the tank with petrol.
Q: What happened to Lada? Probably disappeared with the USSR?
A: Lada still exists, nowdays they have a co-operation with General Motors.
Links
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump