A brand new Lada Niva Urban 4×4, seen in east Beijing in 2018. The Russian sled looked great in white, with a black grille and large wheels with sporty alloys.
Back in the old days, when China and the Soviet Union barter-traded lots of goods, small numbers Lada Niva SUVs were imported into China. They were mainly sold to the government.
This trade ended in the late 1990’s, when more modern vehicles became available on the Chinese market, and the comparatively old-fashioned Niva lost its appeal. For a long time no new Niva reached Chinese shores. But in 2017, a group of Chinese Lada enthusiasts started importing some Niva’s into China again. This is one of those cars.
The Lada’s were imported by two car shops in Beijing. The import was fully legal but there was no official Lada representation or dealer network, so there were no factory warranties. All the imported cars were of the Niva 4×4 Urban 3-door variant, and they were all white.
The interior is still very old-school but the seats look somewhat modern. There is no radio or any other luxury.
The Niva 4×4 Urban was powered by a 1.7 liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine, good for a crazily low 83 hp and 129 Nm. Gearbox was a 5-speed manual, working with a full fledged 4×4 system. Top speed was 137 hp and it did 0-100 in 19 seconds. Average fuel consumption according to Chinese measurements was 8.6 liter per 100 kilometers.
In China, the Lada Niva 4×4 Urban was sold for 100.000 yuan. That may not seem that much but its closes competitor, the BAW BJ212, sold for only 60.000 yuan, and that was a much larger and stronger vehicle.
It was thus no wonder that the return of the Niva didn’t work out well. After the enthusiasts got their cars there was nobody else left who wanted one. I heard that two batches were imported, with about two dozen cars in total. After that, imports of the Niva in China once again ended.
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