Having resumed the production of Lada and Moskvich cars, Russia wants to resume the production of Volga cars this year, the Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov told TASS on Thursday.

In a wide-ranging interview with TASS, Russia’s most prominent state-run news agency, Manturov was asked about the state of Russia’s auto industry and the stage of plans to resume production of Volga cars.

“All arrangements are at the final stage. Work has been ongoing non-stop since the announcement of this decision, i.e. since May 2023. Therefore, we assume that the production of this car should start in the middle of the year,” he answered.

He also confirmed that the new Volga will be produced with the help of “foreign partners”, without going into details. Russia also resumed production of the Lada model in 2022 with the help of Chinese companies at the former Renault plant in Moscow, which also produced Duster and Sandero cars before the war in Ukraine.

Russia presented new Muscovite models in November 2022, after Renault completed its exit from the Russian market in May of the same year.

Russia promises Volga a modern design

Answering the question of TASS journalists, whether the new “Volga” will resemble the old ones or will be “updated” models, Manturov assured that they will have an “absolutely modern look”, but the “world-famous” logo – a deer – will remain. to be stored

“As for the radiator grille, there is probably some kind of copy that resembles previous cars,” Manturov also said.

The last Volga in Russia was produced in 2005, as the GAZ automobile plant was focused on the production of trucks and minibuses.

The car has long been a symbol of the greatness of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union invested heavily in this car during the height of the Cold War to impress Westerners.

For the citizens of the USSR, the Volga, nicknamed with somewhat forced irony the “Russian Mercedes”, was a symbol of social status for several generations, but among the Soviet nomenclature it was the choice of more middle-ranking party officials.

Also nicknamed the “Rich Man’s Lada”, the Volga was notorious for its frequent engine failures and far-reaching unreliability. But the car gave the owner, especially if there was a driver, a sense of social superiority.

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, the Volga became a completely outdated car compared to foreign imported models. Its manufacturer tried to “rejuvenate”, but failed to revive its popularity among buyers.