On a list of the world’s iconic car factories, Russia’s Togliatti, production centre of Lada cars, would make many people’s top 10. This vast plant, situated on a bend of the Volga river 1,000km east of Moscow, was built when Soviet protectionism could support a workforce of more than 100,000 making up to 1m cars a year.

Post-Soviet times have not been so kind. Lada’s parent company, the loss-making AvtoVAZ, has struggled to impose the manufacturing discipline and lean production methods needed to protect itself against faster moving rivals operating without the same legacy burden. But there are signs that might be changing. A visit to this 600 hectare facility shows the scale of the task but also that AvtoVAZ and its owner, Renault Group, are slowly making the improvements needed to make company profitable and ready to do battle with Lada’s current biggest rivals: Hyundai and Kia…