Production of Lada Iskra at "Avtozavod St. Petersburg" has been temporarily halted. The reason is the planned summer corporate vacation for the company's employees. Car assembly has been suspended for almost three weeks.
According to the company, the vacation will last from July 27 to August 16. After this, the enterprise is expected to return to its normal production schedule.
The production of Lada Iskra at the St. Petersburg site began in September 2025 as part of an agreement concluded at the SPIEF. The plant gained the ability to produce all versions of the model family – sedan, station wagon, and SW Cross in various configurations, colors, and with manual and automatic transmissions.
In 2025, the enterprise assembled about 3,000 Lada Iskra vehicles.
What was produced at "Avtozavod St. Petersburg" before Lada Iskra
The history of this site began during Nissan's operations in Russia. The plant belonged to the Japanese concern. After Nissan's departure from the Russian market, the enterprise was transferred to FSUE NAMI, which later sold 99% of the plant to AvtoVAZ. Currently, information about the owners of the site is not disclosed.
Then the plant began to change its direction of work. In the summer of 2023, AvtoVAZ, as a production partner, launched large-unit assembly of Lada cars here.
The first model of the new stage was the Lada X-Cross 5 city crossover, which was created on the basis of the Chinese FAW Bestune T77. However, the cooperation between AvtoVAZ and FAW did not continue, and the production of these cars in St. Petersburg was stopped.
In March 2024, the enterprise began assembling cars under the new Xcite brand. The first car was the Xcite X-Cross 7 crossover, which externally and technically corresponded to the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro model. Later, in November, sales of the second model, the Xcite X-Cross 8, began.
According to the company's press service, in 2024, about 20,000 Xcite brand cars were assembled at the plant. In September 2025, the general director of the enterprise announced the cessation of assembly of these cars.
Now the main focus of the St. Petersburg site has become the Lada Iskra – a new model in the lineup of the Russian automaker.