Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 10, 1993                   TAG: 9307100064
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOW D'YOU SAY `JEEP' IN RUSSIAN? `YOU-AHZ'

The Russians are coming - to U.S. car showrooms.

A four-wheel-drive, Jeep-type vehicle called "the pride of the Russian military" could be available in this country and Canada next year, an American businessman and his Russian partners say.

Auto industry experts say it would be the first time a Russian-made car or truck is sold in the United States.

The partners offered only sketchy details about financing and marketing for the venture, called UAZ of America Inc. But William R. Anderson, 38, a Maryland computer company executive, promised the UAZ - pronounced "you-ahz" - will not be another Yugo.

He said it's insulting to the Russians to even compare the cheap, Yugoslav compact to the sturdy jeep that survived World War II - not to mention Russian roads.

Anderson and his Russian partner, Pavel Lezhankin, said they hope to sell 2,000 vehicles here in the first year and another 2,000 in Canada and Latin America.

The price range could be a big attraction. Anderson said the Jeep-like vehicles will be priced at around $12,000 and the trucks at about $10,000. The Jeep Grand Cherokee, one of Chrysler's best sellers, costs about $26,000.

It's "a down and dirty industrial vehicle," Anderson said. "It could appeal to people who like vehicles that look ugly."

But buyers, he said, get a reliable product. "These vehicles are back to simplicity. It's the way vehicles used to be made. It's almost like nostalgia," he said.

And the four-cylinder model has at least one unusual feature: The rear seats are higher than the front - so the general could see over his driver, he explained.