Skoda and Dacia thrived in the transition from communism to capitalism, while the Yugo crashed in infamy and the Trabant disappeared in a cloud of exhaust. As far as Eastern European vehicle history goes, Ukraine's boxy Luaz jeep appeared to die from neglect amid the chaos.
However, like the silent, beaten-down hero of a Rambo film, the Luaz is set for a comeback of sorts as an ultra-light, ultra-low-cost electric vehicle, thanks to the nostalgia and problem-solving acumen of a 55-year-old Ukrainian serial entrepreneur.
Vadym Ignatov, who owns a sporting goods import firm, EcoDrive magazine and several other Kyiv businesses, is giving a rebirth to the Luaz name, prompted in part by his love for the olive drab brute he learned to drive on as a teenager in the Soviet Union of Brezhnev and Gorbachev.
The Luaz, a hard-driven, easily-repaired vehicle reminiscent of the WWII-era US military jeep of MASH fame, was little known outside of Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands were made in various models but, after privatization and years of financial struggles following the collapse of Communism, the factory stopped making the Luaz after the stormy '90s. The last one rolled off the production line in 2001.
Now, Ignatov has updated it to the modern sensibilities of the neighboring European Union, shrank it, busted its top speed down to 45 km/h and adopted a tactic that could be called "guerrilla manufacturing."
He is now the newest, and smallest, carmaker in Europe, and he's looking for investors.
His dreamchild is the 2020s-era Luaz - a steel-bodied light electric vehicle with a 5 kW engine that can be assembled in a workshop with as few as four people, if needed, and can be charged, in a pinch, with foldable solar panels that can be packed in the car.
It's a vehicle that will happily cruise city streets delivering bags of cement or motor down back country roads with crateloads of blackberries. Although it's not meant for highway driving, family vacations or long-haul logistics, it will keep trundling along for years after the grid goes down and Mad Max gives up his search for gasoline.
"I learned to drive on the Luaz and, like your first love, that feeling doesn't go away," said Ignatov. "But it was mostly a practical matter - when I was running my delivery company, I saw the need for a vehicle specifically for deliveries in town. We do have interest from the delivery sector but I'm happy to see it is also catching on in farming, with a group of berry farmers."
Even the price lives up to the can-do Luaz spirit - while the original sold for a never-changing 5,100 Soviet rubles, the basic two-seat "Farmer" model of the new Luaz sells for €5,100.
Each battery adds €1,200 to the price and 100 kms to its range. Up to three batteries can be added, for a final price of €8,700 and a range of 300 km. The four-door "City" model sells for a basic €7,500 plus €1,200 per battery. And, its energy consumption is less than half of the average for electric vehicles, at 6.4 kW per 100 kms, Ignatov says.
"We want to make sure it's very cheap to buy and very cheap to use," Ignatov said. "And it's very easy to fix - it's enough to jack up the car and you can change everything everywhere. This is the spirit of the Luaz."
The "spirit of the Luaz" may prove particularly useful as Ukraine starts to rebuild its infrastructure when the two-year-old brutal war with Russian eventually ends, with the vehicle's ability to perform even under impoverished conditions.
And, in a war-weary country, the Luaz is also catching on with another group - tens of thousands of disabled young veterans. Ignatov has drawn up plans to create a Luaz version specifically for the disabled and plans to start manufacturing soon.
Although the batteries are meant to be charged either at home through the regular grid or via EV charging stations, they can be charged with folding solar panels that can easily be stored in the vehicle. On a day with average sun, an hour's charge via the panels will let the owner drive 3.7 km.
The batteries can also be taken out of the vehicle and used to power a household during a blackout. Ignatov says one fully charged Luaz battery can run the electricity in a typical apartment, including refrigerator, light, TV and gadgets, for 10 hours.
The ease of assembly of the new Luaz matches the versatility in powering the vehicle and the convenience of repairs, Ignatov said.
"In a first phase, we are aiming to set up a manufacturing area for assembly with 1,000 square meters of space and 50 employees for volume but, really, four people could put this together in a village machine shop," he said.
"We plan to set up micro-factories in more remote places after creating a central area for mass production," he added, describing a system of remote factories dotting the country in what could be described as "guerrilla manufacturing."
The modern Luaz in action as a city delivery vehicle. (In Ukrainian)
The steel body, frame, electric motor and a few other parts are imported from China, while the battery, some electronics, exterior and interior parts, wheels and other items are made in Ukraine. Altogether, the parts, when measured by volume, are 40% from Ukraine. When measured by value, it's 70% made in Ukraine.
Ignatov's goal is to manufacture 100% of the parts in Ukraine but three years of searching have failed to turn up a factory that can produce a steel body in the country, and many other parts still have to be sourced internationally.
So far, Ignatov has made and sold only 10 cars, and another 15 are set to be delivered in the coming weeks. The problem is not demand - it is logistics, with an inability to find manufacturers of some of the parts in Europe, disruptions during the Covid lockdowns and now Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea that is forcing imports from China to sail around Africa.
Now, after investing $1.2 million of his own money, Ignatov is searching for investors to help him reach his short-term goal of manufacturing 1,000 vehicles a year and mid-term goal of manufacturing 10,000 a year. He estimates the total cost at 14 million euros, or a little over $15 million.
His search for investors, though, has been impeded by the war that's savaging his country.
"The current situation in Ukraine is very unstable and it's hard to persuade people to invest here," Ignatov said.
UkraineInvest, the government investment promotion agency, has agreed to take Luaz Motors, the company Ignatov has formed to manufacture the vehicles, into its "investment nanny" program once it reaches $12 million in investment.
That means the government would offer state-paid infrastructure investments, tax exemptions and other benefits worth as much as 30% of the company's capital investments.
For now, though, UkraineInvest has agreed to promote the Luaz, a name that catches attention and, often, wistful memories from aficionados both in Ukraine and abroad.
As Ignatov says, the Luaz is not meant as a replacement for your regular car. But if it serves farmers, couriers, the disabled, nostalgic fans, delivery workers, cash-strapped first-time EV owners and Sunday drivers with no need for speed, it might once again become a vehicle for the people.
"That's the spirit of the Luaz that we're trying to capture," he says.
