The history of the Volga Automobile Plant contains many glorious dates associated with the start and expansion of VAZ automobile production, their modernization and renewal. In April 1970, on the eve of the 100th anniversary of V. I. Lenin's birth, the first cars rolled off the assembly line, and already in December 1973 the millionth car was produced. In 1977, production of a new all-wheel drive car began here VAZ-2121.
The production rate did not decrease in the future. In 1979, the five millionth car was produced, in 1984 - the eight millionth, and finally, in 1986, the coveted milestone was reached - car No.10,000,000 rolled off the plant's conveyor.
The desire of the plant's team to be at the level of scientific and technical progress requirements allowed the plant to launch a new or modernized car model into production every one and a half to two years. Each of them, as a rule, increased efficiency and comfort, provided higher safety for the driver and passengers and a lower degree of environmental pollution.
The plant's team has accumulated a wealth of experience, and today it is capable of solving the most complex problems.
The XXVI and XXVII Congresses of the CPSU, the plenary sessions of the Central Committee of the Party defined a firm course for the intensification and restructuring of the national economy, for the comprehensive increase in labor productivity. For automobile manufacturers, this means, first of all, the creation of cars that meet the prospective world level, improving the quality and reliability of manufactured cars, increasing production, and introducing the latest technologies.
In fulfilling the tasks set by the party and the government, the Volga automobile manufacturers prepared for release a new basic front-wheel drive model - VAZ-2108 (Lada-Sputnik). The first batch of these cars rolled off the assembly line in 1984. Then in 1986, the second model - VAZ-2109 - was mastered and modifications of cars based on VAZ-2108 and VAZ-2109 began to be produced.
The development of front-wheel drive vehicles is a qualitative leap in the development of domestic automobile manufacturing and plays the same role as the car did in its time VAZ-2101. Putting into production fundamentally new models is not just replacing one model with another on the conveyor. This is, first of all, the introduction of progressive technological processes into production, the development of new materials, the replacement of equipment and the installation of new automatic lines that correspond to the modern technical level.
(The original is posted on Internet resource: VAZbook.ru)
Recently, the efforts of car manufacturers all over the world have been aimed at solving the main problem - reducing fuel consumption and reducing environmental pollution. Combustion efficiency is improving, the weight of units is decreasing, friction losses in moving parts are decreasing, aerodynamic resistance is decreasing, etc. More and more front-wheel drive cars are appearing: such a layout allows to reduce their weight and effectively use the space of the cabin. All these trends are reflected in the design of VAZ-2108, VAZ-2109 cars and their modifications, work on which began in 1978.
Based on a comprehensive analysis of technical and technological capabilities and generalization of the experience of operating similar vehicles abroad, the technical specifications for the production of a front-wheel drive vehicle were approved as the most promising for the coming years. A sufficient number of prototype vehicles were manufactured and tested in various climatic zones of our country. In addition, all vehicle components were subjected to comprehensive bench tests. Based on their results, appropriate changes were made to the design of the vehicle and its components.
During the development and fine-tuning of the cars, the most serious attention was paid to the reliability and durability of units, manufacturability, a high level of active and passive safety and reduced labor intensity of maintenance. All this, combined with the advantages of a front-wheel drive car, made it possible to achieve high consumer qualities of VAZ-2108 and VAZ-2109 cars, in which they are not inferior to foreign analogues.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the design of cars cannot be considered as something unchangeable. The team of the Volga Automobile Plant is constantly working on its improvement. Changes are being made and will be made to improve the consumer qualities of cars, to increase reliability and manufacturability. Therefore, there may be some discrepancies between the text of the book and the design of cars that came off the assembly line after the book was published. This edition reflects the design of cars as of September 1987.