MOSCOW, May 22. /TASS/. Avtovaz announced the start of production of Lada Granta Cross, the company said on Wednesday.

"Lada began production and sent to the dealerships the first batch of Lada Granta Cross cars - a station wagon with improved cross-country performance," the report said.

The start of sales is scheduled for the summer of 2019. Buyers will be offered several options for complete sets and various configurations of the power unit.

Lada Granta Cross will be the fifth model of the new Lada Granta family, sales of which began last fall. According to the company, Lada Granta is the best-selling car in Russia - more than 86,000 cars have been sold since entering the market.

It was reported earlier that Avtovaz in April 2019 increased sales of Lada cars on the Russian market by 5.2% compared to the same period last year - to 32,300 cars. In January-April, 114,679 Lada cars were sold in Russia, which is 4.4% more than in the same period of 2018.

Avtovaz is the largest car manufacturer in Russia, with more than 560,000 cars rolled off its assembly line in 2018. The Avtovaz group is part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance.