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Lada Granta Classic '22 Revealed, Poverty-Spec Model Doesn't Even Have Airbags

Vladimir Putin, former intelligence officer turned president after the fall of Boris Yeltsin’s administration, has overestimated Russia’s armed forces and underestimated the resilience of Ukraine’s armed forces. What should have been a three-day blitzkrieg turned into a protracted war that isn’t going well for the Russian Federation, whose army never stood a chance.
Lada Granta Classic '22 12 photos
Photo: AvtoVAZ/Lada
Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22Lada Granta Classic '22
Ukraine’s guerilla and urban warfare tactics are tremendously efficient against enemies who trained in pitched warfare. Remember the Soviet Union’s aggression of Afghanistan? The Mujahideen, as well as Marxist–Leninist–Maoist groups, made Russia’s army regret stepping foot in the landlocked country. Oh, wait a minute! autoevolution is about, uhm, cars, right?

Turning our attention to the automotive industry, the Russo-Ukrainian War has generated – and continues to generate – a lot of problems for carmakers in pretty much every corner of the world. From galloping inflation to a shortage of indispensable components, this war is more than a battle of good versus evil. The Russian automotive industry has been heavily affected by mounting sanctions and Putin’s isolationist regime, so much so that Lada’s newest model doesn’t have airbags. Or seatbelt tensioners. Or ABS...

Officially dubbed Classic ’22, the most spartan trim level of the Granta is pretty much a trip down memory lane. What memory lane, though? Think of the 1990s in the post-communist Russian Federation. That one, comrade!

Offered in four-door sedan, five-door liftback, and five-door station wagon flavors, the Granta Classic ’22 comes exclusively with a 1.6-liter engine, a naturally-aspirated mill that puts out 90 ponies. A five-speed manual is the only transmission offered, and fuel consumption is estimated at 6.5 liters per 100 kilometers. Make that 36.1 miles to the gallon if you live in the United States and 43.4 miles per gallon for peeps in the United Kingdom.

What else needs mentioning? Ah, yes! Lada pompously mentions that it’s “multimedia ready with four speakers,” which means that customers have to purchase a radio separately if they so wish. Owned by AvtoVAZ, the Russian brand presents the Granta as “modern, technological, fast, and stylish – a car as it should be.” Yeah, that only applies in Vladimir Putin’s dystopia…

To whom it may concern, pricing for the Granta Classic '22 starts at 658,300 rubles for the sedan, which is $11,455 at current exchange rates. The sticker price in the attached release includes a 20,000-ruble trade-in grant.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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