MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) - AvtoVAZ (RTS ticker: AVAZ) said Saturday it would join efforts with Russia's main arms exporter to design a military 4WD vehicle that could bear the name of the country's most famous weapon designer.
Russia's leading automotive concern is better known for its Lada cars, but a Rosoboronexport takeover of the Togliatti-based company appears to have led to the new project.
"AvtoVAZ does not make military vehicles," Director General of Rosoboronexport Sergei Chemizov said. "I hope that we will work together with AvtoVAZ experts and design a military
jeep for the Russian Defense Ministry."
He also said the new vehicle might be called the Kalashnikov after Mikhail Kalashnikov, 86, the Soviet Union and Russia's most famous gun designer.
AvtoVAZ, which has a market capitalization of $1.43 billion, said earlier this week that it had increased domestic sales in January-April 2006 by over 7.8% compared with 2005 to 205,000 cars.
