The demand for Avtovaz's vehicles--the Lada and an off-roader called the Niva--consistently outstripped the supply.

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Bob Mansfield and David Lada mapped the wealth of the richest from the Asia-Pacific region.

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There was a similar result in Togliatti, a town in south-western Russia best known for making Lada cars.

ECONOMIST: Russia

Bob Mansfield and David Lada mapped the wealth of the richest Europeans.

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The conveyor belt at the giant Avtovaz car factory, which produces the ubiquitous Lada, has spent much of this year motionless.

ECONOMIST: Russia

That Target has had its supposedly anti-gay politics spotlighted again, by Lada Gaga of all people, has to, as I said, really, really sting.

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The Lada was an obsolete Fiat, produced at the Togliatti factory south-east of Moscow: bought new, it required extensive repair in order to become roadworthy.

ECONOMIST: Soviet cars

The main threat to Lada comes from very cheap Chinese cars.

ECONOMIST: Cars in Russia

Meanwhile, the four Lada-class diesel-electric submarines will be jointly designed and built by both countries, with two of them to be built in Russia and the other two in China.

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Mr Putin has given it a cheque for 25 billion roubles and promised to pay for transporting Lada cars through six time-zones to Russia's far east, where most people long ago ditched Ladas for second-hand Japanese cars.

ECONOMIST: Russia's economy