The GAZ-3111 "Volga" was an attempt by the Gorky Automobile Plant to create a new business-class "Volga". From 2000 to 2002 a pilot production batch of about 450 cars was built, after which production was discontinued.[1]
Why it did not succeed
The reason was the same one that doomed the GAZ-3105 "Volga": the car's price notably exceeded what buyers had come to expect for a "Volga", and the project had no chance left.[1] It went on sale at a price on par with the Toyota Avensis of the time and no longer generated much public interest; the public debut had taken place back in August 1998, and the first pilot-production batch rolled off the assembly line at the end of December 1999.[2]
For the plant, this was, in the early 2000s, the last attempt at developing a high-class passenger car on its own. After that, the bet was placed on simplifying and cheapening the classic line — the GAZ-31105 — and on licensed designs such as the Volga Cyber.