Editing AvtoVAZ (section)

===1980s===
[[File:Technical Center AVTOVAZ. Photo 2.JPG|thumb|Technical and design center]]
In May 1980, a series of mass strikes at the Togliatti plant involving hundreds of thousands of workers was reported by the western press.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kose|first1=Kevin|title=Massive Walkouts Reported at 2 Main Soviet Auto Plants|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1980/06/14/massive-walkouts-reported-at-2-main-soviet-auto-plants/83440c3d-6abc-4f61-bc22-60cd9ca2ad98/|access-date=5 July 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=14 June 1980}}</ref>

Based on the success of the Niva, the design department prepared a new family of [[front-wheel drive]] models by 1984, which was of a completely domestic design. Production started with the VAZ-2108 ''Sputnik'' three-door hatchback, the series was commercially known as [[Lada Samara|Samara]]. It was the first front-wheel drive serial car built in the Soviet Union after the LuAZ-
969V.<ref>Thompson, p.251</ref>

A white 2108 became the nine-millionth Lada built, on 24 May 1985, with the ten-millionth, on 9 October 1986, also a 2108.<ref>Thompson, p.253.</ref> The twelve-millionth, a right-hand drive 2109, was produced 6 July 1989.<ref>Thompson, p.255.</ref>

By the late 1980s, AvtoVAZ was suffering from the deterioration of its [[capital goods]], such as tools and machinery, resulting from insufficient levels of investment over a long period.<ref name="glazunov72" /> Unproductive and antiquated management techniques also contributed to the decline, as did the absence of market competition.<ref name="glazunov72" /> The first privately owned AvtoVAZ dealership was established by [[Boris Berezovsky (businessman)|Boris Berezovsky]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite web|title=Boris Berezovsky |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Berezovsky#ref1048626 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=25 April 2017 |language=en |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426160835/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Boris-Berezovsky |archive-date=26 April 2017 }}</ref> Dealerships quickly turned into criminal rackets that at times simply stole cars from the factory.<ref>{{cite news|title=Godfather of the Kremlin? |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1996/1230/5815090a.html |access-date=25 April 2017 |work=Forbes |date=30 December 1996 |language=en |url-status = live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419040937/https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1996/1230/5815090a.html |archive-date=19 April 2017 }}</ref>