First Ladas With Automatic Gearboxes Coming to Market

VIENNA – Sales of theLada Granta low-cost sedan equipped with an automatic transmission will start in Russia in the coming weeks.

For AvtoVAZ, which has manufactured more than 27 million Ladas since 1970, the latest move means a small revolution, as the Granta is the auto maker’s first car equipped with an automatic transmission.

AvtoVAZ is using4-speed automatic transmissions sourced from JATCO for small front-wheel-drive vehicles. For the Japanese supplier, the AvtoVAZ deal represents the first business it has concluded with a Russian client.

The auto maker expects to sell about 10,000 Grantas with automatic transmissions, according to Oleg Grunenkov, director of the Lada Granta and Kalina project at AvtoVAZ. Plans for 2013 call for about 70,000 deliveries.

In addition to the Granta, a restyled Lada Kalina will receive the automatic gearbox starting in 2013.

AvtoVAZ invested some RR548 million ($17 million) in engineering and production preparations for the newly equipped Granta, Grunenkov tells Russian media. The automatic transmission is available for Granta’s Norma equipment level.

With itsbase price of RR373,200 ($11,594), the Lada Granta powered by a 1.6L, 98-hp gasoline engine is the least-expensive car with automatic transmission sold in Russia.

ZAZ Chance, the Ukrainian-made small car based on the old Daewoo Lanos and equipped with an Aisin automatic transmission, starts at RR420,000 ($13,048) in Russia. The Chance is equipped with a 1.4L gasoline engine delivering 101 hp.