CHEVROLET NIVA test drive since 2002 SUV

A foreign car from Tolyatti

What is more in it - Chevrolet or Niva?
Has it really happened? The joint efforts of the domestic auto giant and a foreign investor are also an auto giant, but a new car appeared in a global scale in the Russian market. Not quite ours - and not at all imported. Not quite chevrolet - and not at all a field in the appearance of the appearance to us.
What is the product of the joint production of the Chevrolet Niva (this is what it should be called), we will still study with you in detail - now the editors will buy a car for close acquaintance. In the meantime, let's dwell on the fact that everyone can see, having come to the car dealership, and look behind the scenes - we will try to find out that the buyer will not see.
Twenty -third project
This phrase was often used by the fathers of the car - VAZ engineers, speaking of their brainchild: what happened. True, now representatives of the GM-Autsovaz joint venture are already talking about prospects. At the same time, they prefer to compare Chevrolet Niva not with the twenty-third that was released by a limited party in the OPP, but with the commodity 214th. But it will be useful for us to look back at the experimental machine to see at what pace the model is being improved. And the fact that it is not completely finished today, the new owners of the project do not hide.
Compared to the machine operating in the editorial office, there are many changes in the serial version. Already at the first touch, a person who traveled in Niva is surprising, bordering on confusion: where is the usual jerk in the transmission? Did they really make details on the vase from which they were able to collect the Niva transmission without backlash?
A fugitive look is not able to catch on the flaws of the assembly - it is clear that the car was licked. There are, of course, claims to the notorious poorly closed doors. But we will make a discount that the car simply did not pass pre -sale preparation.
Some changes have yet to be implemented. Say, it is very useful to replace the belt of the generator on the clinova with the transfer of the unit to the left side of the engine. But the overall impression of the car has already been formed.
As a product ready for sale, the car took place. As a vehicle capable of serving for a long time, without bringing trouble to the owner, perhaps, time will also tell. The main thing is that the cooperation of AvtoVAZ with the world auto industry has begun, and this process, we hope, can no longer be stopped.
Today, Chevrolet -Niva is offered customers in two configuration versions - simpler L and with GLS bells and whistles. Both with a power steering of the steering of the Zanradfrick, an imported vacuum amplifier and the main brake cylinder. The GLS variant is also equipped with alloy wheels, fog lights, athermal glasses, and electric windows. By September 2003, they promise export execution (such machines will be sold in Russia) - with an Opel engine, a transmission from Suzuki Vitar, airbags, ABS and air conditioning, which, incidentally, does not want to put a car with a VAZ motor.
So? Surely, it will be something to wait for customers both in a year and in two, but to talk about the prospects so far for the young joint venture so far is still too early - everything has its time.
The deficit is given
It seems that only yesterday the VAZ dealers offered a prototype of today's machine for a huge for the domestic product and, moreover, a strongly floating amount - from $ 11 to 14 thousand. Bought? And how! And then, after only a year and a half, other dealers offer an outwardly similar, but already brought, much better car, which carries a chevrolet emblem on $ 8,000 or 9300, depending on the configuration, depending on the configuration. It is not surprising that the line lined up for two months!
Apparently, the excitement will remain until about March, and then subside, or rather, it will be eliminated. By this time, the new production, belonging to a joint venture (SP), will acquire its own paint lines and will be able, including thanks to them, to significantly increase the volume of production. If in two months of last year a little more than 450 cars came off from the assembly line, then in 2003 about 35 thousand are already planning to release them.
The second milestone is September, when, as we have already said, they promise export performance. And besides, the existing configuration options will most likely complement options such as ABS, airbags, an electric drive of external mirrors and something else.
But so far, potential buyers are most worried about pillows. For a year and a half that our experimental twenty -third roads, perhaps, was not a passerby (or more often - roadway), who would not ask among other quality. Will Chevrolet Niva be like a foreign car?
On guard of the reputation
For the plant, every copy of the machine is born from many parts, and those, in turn, from blanks and so on. And for the buyer - the future owner?
Behind the car, we do not come to the factory, but to the dealer. Then we turn to him for technical support, please eliminate the guarantee of the problem, sometimes even try to sell the old car with it. It turns out that the attitude of the car community to the creation of a company largely depends on the dealer (it is a pity that our factories do not understand this). Fast and qualified assistance helps the owner to feel that his car is more reliable than that of the neighbor, and small problems (who do not have them) are not delivered. Why are we closing?
Specialists of the joint venture understand that a good dealership is worth a lot, so the most serious attention was paid to the creation of a sales network. There are many requirements: have their own service center, qualified specialists who have undergone special training, a good reputation - then the candidacy will be considered. But even if these conditions, cars will be allowed to sell only after the salon is decorated in a corporate identity; At the same time, the size and location of the logos, lighting, and the floor should be lined with tiles of the prescribed variety and color are clearly stipulated. There are standards for the quality of customer service, but they have to get acquainted with them later. The selection conditions are very harsh: therefore, from many people who want to sell Chevrolet-Niva, by the time of preparation of material, this right was endowed with only 18 dealers in Russia and only two (!) In Moscow. This approach inspires confidence that future owners of cars will not be left alone with their problems, no matter how small they at first glance seem.
Reflections at the front door
To figure out (at least for yourself) in the prospects of an interesting project and understand what the high quality will be guaranteed, the question asked by the representative of the joint venture helped the author. He sounded something like this: there are cities in Russia where there is no and, probably, in the near future there will be no dealers. Can a person somehow (implied - through the dealers of a vase, GM or other bypass ways) buy a car in his city? The answer was followed by a delicate, cautious, but ... we understood - no. Is it possible to draw conclusions on the basis of this answer? Let's try.
In the joint venture GM-Autsovaz, people gathered quite experienced and, apparently, are ready for surprises. No matter how the VAZ is trying to supply the ideal components for the assembly of Chevrolet, nobes (and he really tries), the possibility of failure cannot be excluded. And if so, the last stronghold of the struggle for the reputation of the car will be a dealer. If it happened, it was he who is designed to solve the problem that has arisen so that the client is satisfied. That is why they are so carefully approaching the selection of candidates. Notice, we are talking about choosing exactly dealers, and not just sellers.
The first acquaintance with commodity machines gives hope for the best: maybe it will not be quite chevrolet, but certainly not a field. It is naive to expect that the car will be noticeably cheaper. We believe that there are no serious reasons for the rise in price. But, feeding in yourself the desire to buy this car, it is better to forget about a cheap and unobtrusive service, where they do for a penny, but redo it three times. You will have to pay for normal hours, but you can count on a lot. After all, on the map, the reputation is no longer a vase - did you see the emblem on the radiator?
 

 

Source: The magazine "Driving"