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National Association: LAADA

Starting from scratch


Since the early 1990s, Latvia is a nation being created from the ground up after its previous 50 years as part of the Soviet Union. So it is for its automotive sector. It has only one vehicle producer, Alkomtran established in 2004 for the manufacture of MAZ trucks of which 44 were produced in 2005 and 64 in 2006. National independence has also required the creation of an import industry for motor vehicles. The Latvian Authorized Automobile Dealers Association (LAADA) was created by 12 authorised dealers in 1994 and its membership now numbers 47.

Strong economic growth has propelled Latvia to the fastest growing car market in Europe in 2006 when the annual growth rate reached 51.1%. In a dozen of years, the number of new cars sold has multiplied by a factor of 8, rising from 3185 vehicles in 1995 to 25,582 cars in 2006.

As can be expected, Latvians have embraced the motor car with a passion. Consequently they have begun to make a mark in motor sport. The Riga Rally Raid Team has achieved noteworthy results in worldwide sports events thanks to the OSCar, a 100% Latvia-made rally raid car built in 2002 which has already participated in three Lisbon to Dakar Rally Raids. For the 2007 event, Riga Rally Raid Team fielded a team of 27 people and four OSCar vehicles.

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