Before the latest experiments with the Volga brand, when GAZ began to interact with Western and Eastern partners, the plant tried for several decades to develop a new generation of the sedan on its own. Ambitious prototypes of the Volga 3103 and 3104 and even small-scale models 3105 and 3111 were born, which are still on sale, but even against their background this car stands apart. The GAZ-3115 prototype was not just the latest attempt to breathe life into the Volga name on its own, but also GAZ’s attempt to enter the mass D class.
Although this sedan is only 9 cm longer than the Lada Vesta, it once intended to compete with the Volkswagen Passat. And no one has yet made a detailed video review of this car outside and inside. But here they tested both a new platform and a new Volga style: modest, strict, but leaving no doubt about the origin of the car. And a new interior, which included an original front panel with a German-designed instrument panel, imposing armchairs and many details that even now look like they are completely ready for mass production. But what went wrong and why did we never see the GAZ-3115 on sale? Details in the new video.
It’s a shame that the GAZ-3115 never took off. Analogies with the later Moskvich project, the X1, come to mind. But if that story began with a bid for the more prestigious E class and ended with plasticine models, the Volga 3115 came very close to serial production. It could have changed the appearance of our cities for a decade: taxi companies and government agencies would certainly have bought this model.
By the way, if now among the official traffic police cars you can find both Haweils and Mercedes, then in Soviet times the most respectable car of law enforcement services was without a doubt the Volga police. And a video about such a GAZ-24 is also on “Motor”, you can watch it here.
And not so long ago we released a video about a “general’s” Volga without mileage: the most luxurious Soviet GAZ-3102 for the chosen ones. It stood in the garage for 16 years, and in the times of the USSR it was a prestigious car that not everyone could buy. /m
Rare Volga that challenged Mercedes Secret Volga KGB Soviet ambulances – it was painful!
