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Updated GM-derived SUV leaked on Russian social media with RAV4-like front end.
Pre-production photos of the updated 2021 Lada Niva show its design to be more than a little bit influenced by the Toyota RAV4.
A pair of the facelifted SUVs were shown in a photo that surfaced on the Russian ‘Vkontakte’ social network in the past week, with the car featuring a wide plastic grille and slim, high-mounted headlamps, very much akin to the RAV4 styling (pictured below in US-spec guise).
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The cars are shown with extensive body cladding and a snorkel, hinting at being a high-specification off-road model.
However, the facelifted Niva leaked online is not an updated version of the iconic model we know and love – which is still being produced by Lada’s parent company, AutoVAZ, badged as the Lada 4×4 – but instead a restyled version of the ‘new’ Lada Niva ‘II’, based on GM-derived underpinnings dating back to the end of the last millennium.
In 1999, under a joint agreement with General Motors, a new, five-door SUV (which looked very similar to the Kia Sportage of the time) was produced and sold as the Chevy Niva.
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Above: a leaked rear shot of the 2021 Lada Niva.
In July this year, having completed a re-purchase of GM’s stake in the business, an updated ‘new Niva’ was relaunched, as the Lada Niva.
The new Niva features a 1.7-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with 59kW and 125Nm, mated to a five-speed manual transmission and a constant four-wheel drive system with low-range. It’s the same engine as first used in the Chevy Niva in 1999, and in fact has less power than the motor currently in the ‘classic Niva’ Lada 4×4, which develops 61kW.
Above: the GM-derived Lada Niva, first launched in 1999.
Priced from ₽708k rubles (AU$12,700), or ₽794k for the higher-spec off-road version (AU$14,300), the Niva is nearly a third of the price of an entry-level Toyota RAV4 in Russia (₽1,929k rubles, or around AU$35,000).
It is expected that the updated Lada Niva will make its official debut early in 2021.
MORE: Our Lada coverage
Below: The original Lada Niva, now known as the ‘Lada 4×4’
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