In those times, two giants — ZAZ and VAZ — were working in parallel on creating a new front-wheel-drive small car. The same designers who created the VAZ 2108 "Sputnik" worked on the appearance of the "Tavria": Pashko, Kryazhev, Demidovtsev, and Halchynskyi. The authorship of the "Tavria" exterior is usually attributed to Ihor Halchynskyi, while Vladyslav Pashko, who is from Kolomyia, was responsible for the look of the "eight".
The engineers intended that the "Tavria" would become the first Soviet car with front-wheel drive, ahead of the "Samara". However, ambitions intervened: the management of AvtoVAZ insisted that the priority in this matter should belong to their model, which was planned to be launched around 1983 (although in fact its production began only in 1986).
Later, external factors interfered with the plans: the war in Afghanistan exhausted the state budget, so there were not enough funds to launch the assembly line. The start of serial production of the "Tavria" was constantly postponed — first to 1982, and then to later dates. As a result, by the time the model got the "green light", ten years had passed. The "Tavria" entered the market only in 1988.
It is noteworthy that the first prototypes of the 70s had a different profile, different body materials, and even a more modern interior. However, due to long delays and simplification of technologies, a different car reached the series — less bold in design, but it became so familiar and dear to Ukrainians.
