Izh-combi SL, which remained only a promising project

Specialists of the Izhevsk plant very often turned their attention to their metropolitan colleagues. The models of both factories were very similar and had the same parameters. Therefore, what is suitable for some may become quite acceptable for others. For example, in the early 80s, the legendary "fortieth" Moskvich received an improved finish for the prospective conquest of the foreign market. He was assigned the index SL. They decided to do something similar in Izhevsk with the “combi” model, endowing it with the same index. At first, everything went well, and in 1985 a prototype car was already ready.


But those times were the most inappropriate for new developments. It was the mid-80s and early 90s that “buried” more than a dozen excellent domestic projects. It would seem that the 60-year-old Izhmash plant was already ready for the serial production of a novelty that had plastic bumpers and rims with stylish black hubcaps. It also installed square headlights and a fashionable spoiler. That's just beyond the prototype, it did not go. The general decline that overtook the country at that time was perfectly manifested in the design of domestic technology. About this promising, but failed project, the story is told in the video from the BIBIP channel.