The Chevrolet Niva Concept Is A Pint-Sized Portion Of Badass Off-Roader

Of all Russian cars, the tough little off-roader that is the Lada Niva is probably the one that appeals to us the most. It lives on through the Chevrolet Niva, a joint venture between Lada parent company AvtoVAZ and General Motors, and will soon be replaced by a new generation model previewed by the concept you see here.

And we very much like the look of it. It’s powered by a 1.8-litre engine sending power to all four wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox and a locking differential. It’s festooned with all sorts of off road bits - a snorkel, big chunky tyres, a winch and so forth - which are unlikely to make it onto the eventual production version.

In any case, in a world filled with crossovers with little substance, we find the idea of a small, tough off-roader like this very appealing. Unfortunately, as the Niva is just for the Russian market, we’re unlikely to ever own one here in the UK. Shame.