AvtoVAZ C Sedan Concept ob the Moscow Auto Show

While foreign carmakers enjoy steadily growing business in Russia, AvtoVAZ, the biggest domestic producer, keeps losing market share. The company has teamed with Canadian company Magna and hopes to come up with a competitive new model in 2009. A second sneak peek of a future production car, the Project C concept sedan, was unveiled this week at the Interauto Show in Moscow.

The Project C is said to be very close to the final shape of a production car. It follows the Concept C hatchback, which AvtoVAZ showed at Geneva in March. The look is sleek and lines up with current trends. If Project C goes into production in similar form, especially with the eye on quality lent it by Magna and other big foreign suppliers, then AvtoVAZ should have a winner on its hands.

However, the company faces more than its share of problems between now and the projected start of production in 2009. In addition to shrinking market share and an outdated model lineup, the long-promised government subsidy is proving elusive. Unlike the Russian GAZ auto company, owned by globe-trotting oligarch Oleg Deripaska, AvtoVAZ has no larger-than-life figure in the picture to ensure the company's survival.

© Source: insideline
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