Vesti reports good news for the Russian auto industry:

“The entire AvtoVAZ group, including LADA-Izhevsk, is switching to a five-day work schedule from August 29, said the head of Udmurtia, Alexander Brechalov, on his VKontakte page.

According to him, the president of AvtoVAZ, Maxim Sokolov, signed a decree on the return of the entire AvtoVAZ group of companies to a five-day working week from August 29.

Part-week mode at AvtoVAZ - "four-day" - has been since June due to a shortage of electronic components.

According to Brechalov, the “five-day period” has returned thanks to the state program of preferential lending for the purchase of cars.

Vesta remains the only LADA model produced at the Izhevsk plant "LADA Izhevsk". At the same time, the most expensive and fastest version of Vesta Sport is produced in Togliatti.”

Leaving aside the question of how the concessional lending program could help deal with the shortage of electronic components. But in fact, the last Vesta in Izhevsk was assembled on August 7th. Now this model is not assembled at all, the resumption of production is planned in the spring of 2023, but already in Togliatti. However, these plans are in question: according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, published on March 31, 2022, Vesta consists of more than 50% of imported components, the supply of which is hindered by sanctions.

The LADA-Izhevsk plant lost the only model that was assembled there in recent years. Dismantling of equipment has begun. In early August, Interfax reported that employees of the plant who voluntarily resign were offered 5 monthly salaries and assistance in finding employment, and 7 salaries upon early retirement. The only thing that is still produced at the Izhevsk plant is some components for Vesta: metal stamping and plastic parts.

AvtoVAZ President Maxim Sokolov announced plans to organize the production of an electric version of the Largus model in Izhevsk. According to automotive observer Sergey Aslanyan, these plans are unrealistic: there is no electric motor and battery for Largus, they will have to be developed on their own, and the demand for such a model will be negligible, since the infrastructure for electric vehicles is completely undeveloped in the country.

At the end of July, employees of the Izhevsk plant wrote an open letter to Vladimir Putin with a request to bring the enterprise out of the “negative state”. Apparently, it did not bring any results.