New Toyota at Vesta Price: How the Strengthening Ruble is Harming Our Native AvtoVAZ

At the beginning of the year, budget Japanese and Korean B-class cars imported through parallel imports cost no less than 2.5 million rubles and therefore were of little interest to poor Russians. But since the end of November 2024, when the dollar cost 109 rubles, the Russian currency has strengthened to 79 rubles, and suddenly the requests of gray importers began to melt like last year's snow.

Just yesterday the author of this article found an offer on the Internet to buy a new Toyota Belta sedan for... 1 million 800 thousand rubles.

A Japanese sedan price below 2 million rubles is already a reality. Photo: 1MI

Some private sellers in the provinces offer Belta for 50 thousand cheaper...

At the same time, we are not talking about some exotic version of Toyota, which is assembled in Indonesia or somewhere in third countries for local tastes and needs, but about a Japanese-assembled car. Belta from the Emirates is the same Toyota Yaris and Toyota Vios. And it is also a sister of Suzuki Ciaz, with which it differs only in the nameplates on the trunk and radiator grille.

Why is it called Belta at all? It turns out to be a pretentious (in our opinion) abbreviation of the Italian words bella gente, or "beautiful people."

Toyota Belta — exterior view. Photo: 1MI

The Japanese couple has much in common with the Russian Vesta, which is not inferior in design to the sedan named after beautiful people. The body dimensions are almost the same (the Japanese are 8 cm longer, 3 cm narrower). The power of the naturally aspirated 1.5-liter engine is 105 hp for foreign cars and 106 hp for Vesta. Acceleration dynamics, rear drum brakes, a set of simple gadgets, independent front and semi-independent rear suspensions are similar in design and driving properties.

However, both Japanese have indestructible arguments in the form of a real 4-speed automatic transmission (not a Chinese CVT or manual) and a K15 engine that has been tested on all (!) Suzuki models.

The K15 engine has been installed on all Suzuki models since 2018. Photo: Suzuki Handbook

This naturally aspirated engine is not suitable for street racing, but it runs for 300 thousand kilometers in the most distant countries from the official service center in Africa and Asia. This means that even in the Russian wilderness, the car will not require you to drive it a thousand kilometers to the former official Toyota dealer for scheduled maintenance.

True, Russian users of Toyota and Suzuki also note some disadvantages:

All AvtoVAZ fans are well aware of the problems with Vesta. But it seems that today the main one is the price. At the same time, it has been noted that for 1 million 780 thousand some AvtoVAZ dealers offer unfinished cars, which have no radio, no multimedia, no speakers, no climate control, no rear view cameras or parking sensors, no rear headrests and no armrest.

However, even the presence of all this goodness in a Russian car does not guarantee victory in a face-to-face battle with proven Japanese or Koreans. While AvtoVAZ once again raises prices, gray importers of foreign cars tempt with prices for budget cars. And now, against the backdrop of a strengthening ruble, options with Toyota Corolla for 2.2-2.5 million rubles are appearing.

How long this holiday of falling prices will last, no one knows. But those who want to buy a car at a reasonable price have a chance to take advantage of the situation. At least in revenge for the indecently high customs duties and extortionate recycling fees on foreign cars.

The sales crisis forces AvtoVAZ to reduce prices after all! According to Avtostat analysts, May 2025 was the most successful month for the most expensive version of Vesta — Lada Aura, which was sold to 118 buyers.

The increase in sales in May is explained by a promotion from AvtoVAZ, which offered a discount of 550 thousand rubles, which was of particular interest to private clients: individuals purchased 90 of the 118 Lada Aura cars sold this month.