The Mosvitch 412 is also called 2140. The model of the Russian car company was announced in 1975 and the main idea of the car was to be a small family sedan. Actually the Moskvitch 412 is an upgrade of the 408 . Everything was improved, from the design to the engine. The block, inlet and manifold were made of aluminum castings. The weight of the car was reduced to 1045 kg and the engine was 1500 cc. The body style of the car was 4 door sedan and 2 door station wagon, length – 4.25m
In 1969 the taillights of the car were redesigned in order to improve the line of the car. Basically Moskvitch 412 had a great success in the soviet union and the countries from eastern Europe. This is the first model of the Russian car company that has square headlights and rear vertical lights with triangular turn signals. After that the design of the lights was used in the 2140 model from 1976. Moskvitch exported the model in United Kingdom in 1969 and approximately 300 cars were sold. The peak of the sales was in 1974 when 15 000 cars were sold. Other countries that have imported the car are Sweden, Slovakia, France and Germany. During this period of time the Russian car company was focused mainly on the speed and powertrain handling but they overlooked other important issues such as design, safety and comfort. Probably this is why Moskvitch bankrupted few years ago.
