A Russian Instagram user has caught the attention of the online car community after they posted a photo of a Lada Niva 4×4 last week that had undergone a front fascia swap with a first-generation Chevy Tahoe.
There aren’t a whole lot of details on this strange Russian-American mashup at this time, but the sole photo we have of the vehicle givefuns us a pretty good idea of what we’re looking at. This appears to be a later model Lada Niva 4×4 with the front fascia from a first-gen Chevy Tahoe or Suburban – giving iconic Russian off-roader and a distinctly American appearance. While this is a rather strange modification for someone to spend their time and hard-earned money on, there’s no denying the Chevy front fascia has been nicely integrated. The hood lines up nicely with the quarter panels, while the grille is also perfectly straight. The builder was able to re-use the Lada Niva’s front bumper, as well, making this Chevy-branded Lada look very professional.
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As some readers of this site may know, General Motors has a rather strange and somewhat confusing relation to the Lada Niva. The second-generation Niva II (also referred to as the New Niva) was introduced in 1998 and was later rebadged as the Chevrolet Niva after GM entered a joint-venture partnership with Lada owners AvtoVAZ. The Chevy Niva remained in production until 2019, when GM sold its stake in the AvtoVAZ joint venture back to the company, at which point it was rebadged as a Lada. It’s worth noting the Lada 4×4 also remains in production, although it is no longer referred to as the Niva.
Let us know what you think of this weird Chevy/Lada mashup in the comments below.
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Comments
The Renault-Nissan alliance holds 50,01 % of the capital of AvtoVAZ.
That’s a lotta hoe
The GMC-NIVA mash-up features a pretty cool face lift but it is just that.
Lada is pretty interesting. They are hopelessly behind the times, even with Russia’s modernization program, but old Lada’s have a retro Soviet aesthetic that remains fixed in the world’s imagination. Retro is in. If Lada were smart, they’d work to capitalize on that retro style in foreign markets.
Quite bizarre.