Lada Niva Sport sales fall sharply as niche model struggles to justify its price
Lada Niva Sport’s collapse in the Russian market will surprise no one who ever questioned how little it actually offered over the long-serving Niva Legend. Reports of oil leaks and rusty components were simply the final nudge for a model AutoVAZ had already painted into a corner.
Whenever someone in Russia mentions a sporty Niva, the obvious question follows, sporty compared with what. The architecture is virtually unchanged from the 1970s Legend, yet the price climbed by almost a third. You can call it a niche product, although that niche usually demands something more than a bright stripe along the side.
The numbers tell the story. Instead of becoming a surprise hit, the model managed around 250 cars per month, and even that figure relied on heroic optimism. Production has now been cut to 50 examples per month, a move that sounds more like clearing shelf space in the stockroom. Dealers admit that selling even one car a month counts as a win, which hardly strengthens the case for the model’s long term health.
Buyers see through the pitch. Why spend 1.7 million roubles (about 17,700 euros) on dated mechanicals when the ordinary Niva Legend costs roughly one million roubles (around 10,400 euros), feels more honest and never pretends to be something it is not. True, the cheaper version lacks air conditioning, yet at least it avoids depositing a sporty puddle of oil under the bonnet.
AutoVAZ insists everything is going to plan. Car makers do this when sales fall by a factor of five, usually blaming market conditions, the weather or foreign meddling. A niche can always be redefined, of course. In this case the company argues the model is so marginal that slow sales were the plan all along.
Niva Sport may disappear from the production line altogether unless AutoVAZ answers the simplest question of all. What exactly justifies a price of 1.7 million roubles. Until the explanation stretches beyond the word niche, the car will remain a statistical footnote rather than a viable product.
