This afternoon, AvtoVAZ started series production of the Lada Azimut crossover. So far we are talking about the start of the first phase of production, in which the Togliatti team offers a crossover equipped with two naturally aspirated engines – 1.6 liters with a capacity of 120 hp. and. 1.8 liters with a capacity of 132 hp. and. Obviously, this is not enough for an official flagship product with an undisclosed price.
AvtoVAZ itself is aware of this. Therefore, the head of the company Maxim Sokolov point out Engineers have already begun testing future modifications of the Lada Azimut – equipped with turbine engines and hybrid powertrains. It’s unclear whether the hybrid Azimuth will be an extension of the turbo-engined version, or whether a battery-powered electric motor will be installed on lower trim levels to keep future hybrids at least within the lowest reasonable price range.
Another good thing: the turbo engine on the Lada Azimut will produce 150 hp. pp., which can be called the minimum acceptable value for this segment and weight intersection in modern reality. If you use it wisely, though, you can never have too much power, especially when driving on busy highways.
But hybrid power is clearly still a redundant story for this class of car. Although mass production has begun, we still don’t know how much Azimut will cost even in its most basic version, and when we see the price tag for the hybrid version, we’ll likely have to go with Corvalol.