Photo: People's Lanos (archive photo) Author: Konstantin Shirokun
It turns out that we still don't know everything about the car that was produced for 20 years at seven factories under five brands and four names. And which for many years was number one on the Ukrainian market.
Read about little-known versions of the world-famous model in the RBC-Ukraine article.
Why did a car designed by Italians, engineered by Germans and British, and manufactured by Koreans and Poles become popular in Ukraine? Firstly, it was a truly successful technical design, and secondly, it was manufactured at the Ukrainian ZAZ plant for most of its life. Automotive journalists from rbc.ua recall three versions of the Lanos, which few people remember today.
Daewoo No.1 (1995)
The model, which in 1997 became known to the world as Daewoo Lanos, initially existed as a convertible. It was more interesting this way – the public had to be amazed by something, because the new model was planned as a worldwide one. In this open form and under the name Daewoo No. 1, the new product – or rather, its concept – drove around exhibitions and car shows, having experienced two restylings along the way. Of course, in the meantime, the designers of the ItalDesing studio maestro Giorgetto Giugiaro were already working on sketches of a sedan and hatchbacks with three and five doors. But at that time, open versions of golf-class cars were in the catalogs of many world manufacturers, so the cute Korean convertible was perceived as something natural. And although the Lanos without a roof never became a serial one, it played its role in the propaganda of the new product – soon consumers from all inhabited continents began to actively buy the car.
Daewoo Lanos Sport (1996 – 2004)
In Korea, America and former socialist countries, they willingly bought “Lanos” with a sedan body, in Europe, Asia, Australia and the same America, they revered 3- and 5-door hatchbacks. And everywhere the rarest version was Lanos Sport – a three-door hatch in an aerodynamic body kit and with the most powerful 1.6-liter engine in the line with 106 horses.
However, in Ukraine, the rarest was not the Lanos Sport, but the three-door in its pure form, without low bumpers, spoiler pads and a pompous interior. In this form, the model was perceived externally most harmoniously, and while fully preserving the practicality of the car, its laconic silhouette had a flavor of dynamics.
This configuration was produced only in Korea during 1997-2004, after which the stamps of this body were destroyed. Towards the end of the 2000s, when the car plant in Zaporozhye launched the production of Lanos hatchbacks, there was an attempt to negotiate with General Motors and the Koreans about buying out the equipment for the production of the 3-door body – the demand for it in Ukraine was predicted to be quite good. But it turned out that the stamps of the three-door body had already been destroyed.
ZAZ Lanos Cargo (2008 – 2017)
If the Zaporizhia Automobile Plant managed to make pickups based on rear-engine “Zaporozhets”, then turning the technological and affordable in all senses Lanos into a cargo version was not a big problem for Ukrainian designers. Interestingly, the superstructure of the rear, cargo part of the body was made of solid plastic, that is, it did not bear the load – and in fact, this Lanos was a pickup with a monocoque body. It is not for nothing that one of the early versions of this microvan was called not Cargo, but Pick-up. The load capacity of the “Cargo” was 527 kg with a maximum cargo volume of 2.5 cubic meters.
The ZAZ plant was so firmly on its feet at that time that it offered several equipment levels for the low-volume commercial model: “Standard”, “Comfort” and “Lux”. The senior configurations had, in addition to the standard, a factory-installed LPG system and air conditioning.
In brief
This is the fate of cars that, thanks to their popularity, gain the status of people's cars – there are so many of them that the public does not consider them something interesting and worthy of special attention. Especially when the car is no longer produced, has disappeared from showrooms and is considered yesterday. But if you look closely, each model has interesting pages in its history that deserve respect.
In preparing this article, materials from UkrAvto, the Phaeton and Wheels of History museums were used .
Let us recall that RBC-Ukraine recently reported what is better for a car: a canopy, a garage or a parking lot.