Comrades, welcome to the design bureau! The year is 1978, and the Motherland is in need of a new automobile—one that embodies the ideals of socialist progress, practicality, and mass appeal. Private cars are no longer just the privilege of party officials; they are becoming the dream of workers, teachers, engineers, and families across the Union.
Your task is to envision what this dream could look like: the Soviet people’s car of 1978.
This is not about luxury or extravagance—no Western frivolities here! Instead, think durability, simplicity, and ingenuity. A car that can endure the bitter winters of Siberia, the rough roads of the provinces, and the endless traffic of Moscow. It should be affordable to produce, easy to repair with basic tools, and still carry the proud aesthetic of Soviet design.
Imagine yourself as a designer in a Soviet automotive plant, with one foot in the world of socialist realism and the other in the global race for modernity. How do you balance function with form? How do you make something modest, but memorable? Something that could be the pride of the people, a true four-wheeled comrade of the road?
We invite you to bring this vision to life. Sketch it, model it, dream it—design the people’s car that 1978 deserved.
Rules & Specifications
1. General Rules
Both family (model) year and trim year must be no later than 1978.
Techpool: $10M maximum for trim and engine
Minimum safety of 25
No brake fade for driveability
Minimum top speed of 100 kph
Fuel: unleaded 91 maximum (+1 if 85 unleaded is used)
Open Beta
2. Quality Constraint
The total minimal quality score for the vehicle must be no lower than –15. Factories may cut corners, but the overall build should still retain some minimal standard of quality.
3. Primary Design Focus
Designers should prioritize the following attributes (in descending order of importance):
Engineering Time (10) — Efficiency, simplicity, and feasibility within 1970s Soviet technological capabilities.
Production Units (10) — Maximizing manufacturability and volume output under mass-production constraints.
Price (10) — A people’s car isn’t expensive at all.
Driveability (7) — Ease of use, straightforward handling, and driver ergonomics.
Practicality (7) — Usability in everyday conditions: cargo space, resilience to harsh environments, repairability.
Styling (7) – Don’t make some modern SUV, try to stay period-correct
4. Secondary (Lesser) Considerations
Comfort (5) — Basic comfort is allowed, but should not compromise performance or production simplicity.
Reliability (5) — Important, but secondary to the four primary attributes. Balance is encouraged.
Sportiness (3) — Virtually a non-factor. Focus should NOT be on performance flair or sporty aesthetics.
Fuel Economy (3) — The Soviet Union has a lot of oil, but gass guzzlers are for the Western Capitalists
Submissions:
Sent .car file to me via DM and some pictures with description in this tread.
Also, realistically, given it’s the USSR, the engineers would meet in 1968 or eaven earlier for a car released in 1978 (Samara’s development started in the early 70s with production since '84, while Tavria remained in development for about 20 years)
But treat it as just a fun fact, not a criticism.
And how much tech pool budget in total can we use? I’m guessing it’s none at all, or at least a very small amount (probably up to $10m for engine + trim).
Will there be preferred body styles, and any specific segment we should aim to? A general purpose european scale family sedan suitable also for export such as a Lada or Wartburg 353, or perhaps a more domestic-oriented “umbrella on 4 wheels” like a Trabant or a Zaporozhetz? Is there also any limitations regarding bodies, or is anything from a hatchback to a van welcome?
i like the premise of the competition but i’d like to know, is the focus a rural car, or an urban car, or a lesser of either extreme? this is important to know well what car we should actually make, and also shapes up the rules and order of importance
a car with a rural focus should have greater emphasis on fuel economy than comfort or drivability on top of having an added environmental resistance factor and requirements for 4x4 and 85 RON fuel, a car with an urban focus should have better styling, driveability and reliability, whilst cost can be put at a lower category since these cars would be given to more.. equal people, yes?
a car in the middle end would be a mixed bag, a raised suspension would be good, 4x4 is optional, styling may or may not be there, but practicality is, and so is reliability.
all of these cars had a “market” and were planned in some manner, for the rural people, the niva, for the urban people, the zhiguli, for the middle end the niva would also fit, if bordering on rural, as it was stylish, practical and compact, however the moskvitch could also fill the niche as it was cheaper and simpler overall
telling people to go experimental with design could also be fun, as soviet designers were clearly on some other realm when they made the moskvitch s1
Technically yes but those cars would in general be more expensive since you have added taxes, transport, etc… The main focus would be on Soviet domestic cars
for rural we have UAZ. like 452 model and it’s variations that are still being manufactured from 1965 to this day with not much changes, cos there is no other car that will cope with harsh environments and directions instead of roads
(Samara’s development started in the early 70s with production since '84, while Tavria remained in development for about 20 years)
Well, you can always make a poll, if you’re not sure which to choose.