 The 1974 prototype was ready to be put into mass production in 1975; however, the appearance of new VAZ-2106 at the end of the same year resulted in its delay due to developing another prototype based on that model.Until the beginning of its production, the Niva was in trials over a period of years by a team of VAZ testers under Vadim Kotlyarov in the most difficult terrain of former Soviet Union, such as the Ural Mountains and Siberia, as well as deserts of the Kazakh SSR and the Pamir Mountains in the Tajik SSR, where it was put up against its military counterpart the UAZ-469, and even against some Western off-road vehicles