VAZ-301 Wankel engine
Work on the creation of the Soviet rotary engine began in 1973 with the creation of a special design bureau at the Volga Automobile Plant. The first prototype of a single-section engine with the VAZ-301 index was created in 1976. Soon an experimental batch of Zhiguli with a new engine was produced in the amount of 50 pieces, however, during the first six months of operation, all of them, except for one, failed. In 1982, at the NTTM exhibition in Moscow, a new version of the engine with the index 311 for the VAZ-21018 modification was presented.
In 1983, two-section VAZ-411 engines with a capacity of 120 hp were already designed. With. and more powerful VAZ-413. These and subsequent developed engines were installed on cars of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the KGB, and were not available for retail sale. On March 24, 2004, by order of the General Director of AvtoVAZ, Vitaly Vilchik, a special design bureau for rotary piston engines (SKB RPD) was liquidated. By 2007, the production equipment was dismantled and disposed of.
