The joint venture of GM and AvtoVAZ that has increased its production 50 percent by beginning second shift operations has announced a recall for 1 720 Chevrolet Nivas. The company now produces 200 vehicles per day. The identified defect is a faulty break fuel line.  

The company announced that it intends to conduct inspections of 1 720 Chevrolet Niva vehicles that were shipped from November 23 to December 2. The statement issued by the company explains that the defect would reduce the operational life of the brake lining.

In late October, the GM-AvtoVAZ joint venture recalled 1 973 vehicles due to a possible defect in the vacuum booster used in the cars’ braking system. 

The company has not identified the supplier of the defective brake-lining product.

The output of off-road vehicles by the joint venture company plummeted some 58 percent in 2009. Sales decreased 54.4 percent, dropping to 24 300 vehicles – some of these were models produced in the previous year. In the first three quarters of 2010, the GM-AvtoVAZ plant produced 24 617 cars. Year-on-year increase in production was in excess of 65 percent. 

GM-AvtoVAZ is a Russian joint venture between General Motors and AvtoVAZ set up in 1999. The plant stopped assembling the classic Chevrolet Niva model in the middle of March 2008. Starting from March 2009, the production facility began manufacturing new, modernized Chevrolet Niva off-road vehicles. The U.S. company’s investment in the venture was USD 338.2 million. 

Within the nine months of 2010 GM-AvtoVAZ shipped 24 757 vehicles to dealers, including 1 263 units to C.I.S. countries. This figure is 52.3 percent more than the results achieved in the same period of the previous year. 3 568 vehicles were shipped to dealers in Russia in September, reflecting an increase of 46.1 percent over the company’s performance in August. Since the initiation of the scrappage scheme seven months ago, 2 564 vehicles were sold under the Russian “cash-for-clunkers” program.