I was in the Russian city of Novosibirsk
for work for a few weeks. While there, I
saw, twice, a car that looked very much
like a Chrysler Sebring or Stratus, it said
“Volga Siber 2.4L.” Once I saw the guy
getting into it, and tried to speak to him
about it, but my Russian is not so good
and he spoke no English, about as far
as I got was a kind of nod when I kept
repeating “Chrysler?”
I kick myself now for not trying to see
if there was a VIN tag up on the dashboard.
Anyway, I am sure you will know if
it was imported from here, or what? I am
quite curious.
It was built by the Russian firm GAZ
(Gorky Automobile Plant) in Nizhny
Novgorod, Russia, a city only about 150
miles east of Moscow, and about 1800
miles from where you were stuck. So,
despite the name, it wasn’t built in Siberia.
Or the US.
It was what we used to call a “KDX”
(knocked-down export) car, and it was,
yes, a slightly restyled Sebring.
Most of the tooling was shipped from
Chrysler in the Detroit area, and the complete
engines (2.0 and 2.4L) were shipped
in from Mexico. The already-excellent suspension
was upgraded from the US versions
to better handle the poorer Russian
roads (stiffer, more ground clearance).
The plan was to eventually build as
many as 100,000 cars per year, with
local supplier’s stuff phased in as quality
improved. Unfortunately, production
began in July 2008, just as the world
economic meltdown was being felt. Production
ended in the fall of 201X. So, in
Russia anyway, “Mopar or Nocar” was
contracted to “NoMopar.” Fewer than
10,000 were built.
I have heard, though, that the cops
loved ‘em, even the Russian emergency
ministry bought ’em (see pix). They were
considered quite an upscale car.
