The Moskvich AZLK 2140 was the last machine of the AZLK plant to have rear-wheel drive. In fact, the car was a deeply modernized version of the Moskvich 412. In the early seventies, AZLK was faced with the problem of the rapid obsolescence of the base model of those years – Moskvich 412. This was largely due to the start of production of more modern cars at the VAZ plant. Especially noticeable for the enterprise was a drop in product exports. It is important that AZLK for a long time sent a significant part of its products abroad (in the late 60s, almost 70% of production was exported), having stable revenue for this. Promising models that were being developed at that time did not have a chance to get on the conveyor, either because of unfinished construction or because of the lack of funds for re-equipping the production line with new equipment. Under these conditions, the only way to refresh the car was a large-scale modernization. But during its implementation, it was not possible to change the main components of the body of the 412th model: bottom panels, roof and doors.
