USSR 1989-1991: VAZ (Lada) and Izh most popular brands

Lada 2105

* See the Top 8 all-brands ranking by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Alex *

The last years of existence of the Soviet Union see new car sales stagnate in the region: down 6% to 710,525 registrations in 1989 and up 0.1% in 1990 to 711,454. Sales to state organisations, intelligence services and the army are more on a rollercoaster: down 15% to 141,700 in 1989 and back up a massive 59% in 1990 to 225,446. A different source has total USSR sales in 1989 at 857.086, 1990 at 954.256 and 1991 at 974.945.

Izh 2125 Kombi

As expected VAZ (Lada) is the most popular brand in the country with 381,594 sales and 53.7% share in 1989, then 373,579 and 52.5% in 1990. It is followed by Izh at 133,750 then 127,503 and ZAZ at 92,768 then 86,732. The Moskvich 2141 Aleko is counted as a model given it now forms the entirety of the Moskvich range and sales are up 318% to 62,675 and 8.8% in 1989 for its first full year in market, then down 18% to 51,429 in 1990.

Note that in 1989, Soviet citizens were allowed to purchase the UAZ 3151 Patriot again, it was previously only delivered to the army and police. Car imports kick started in the USSR on March 16, 1988 but no data is available until 1990 when a significant 37,400 units were sold, this figure going up 51% in 1991 to 56,300…

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Full Year 1989 and 1990 All-brands Ranking Tables below.