Since the late 1980s, the final series, ZAZ-968M, was replaced by the cardinally different ZAZ-1102 Tavria hatchback, which featured a front-wheel drive and a more powerful water-cooled engine.

Like the Volkswagen Beetle or East Germany's Trabant, the Zaporozhets was destined to become a "people's car" of the Soviet Union, and as such it was the most affordable vehicle of its era.

The car's appearance gave birth to several nicknames that became well known across the Soviet Union: horbatyi ("hunchback", owing to ZAZ-965's insect-like form; although ZAZ factory workers never used this nickname[2]), malysh (English: Kiddy),[2] ushastyi ("big-eared", due to ZAZ-966 and ZAZ-968's round air intakes on each side of the car to cool the rear-mounted engine), zapor ("constipation"),[3] mylnitsa ("soap-box", for ZAZ-968M, lacking "ears" and producing a more box-like appearance).

[7] The prototype was first powered by a flat twin-cylinder MD-65 engine provided by the Irbitskiy Motorcycle Plant, which was "totally unsuited": it produced only 17.5 hp (13.0 kW; 17.7 PS) and lasted only 30,000 km (19,000 mi) between major overhauls.

[7] Minavtroprom, however, preferred a 23 hp (17 kW; 23 PS)[8] rear-mounted 746 cc (45.5 cu in) V4,[6] the NAMI-G, which had the additional advantage of being developed for the LuAZ-967.

[9]) The V4 was a rather unusual engine configuration for an automobile, with its only other notable use in a similar era being in Ford vehicles like the Taunus and Transit van.

The new car was approved for production at the MeMZ factory on the 28th of November, 1958,[9] changing the name to ZAZ (Zaporizhzhia Automobile Building Plant) to reflect the new profile.

[6] It was powered by a MeMZ-965 rear-mounted, air-cooled OHV 887 cc (54.1 cu in) V4 engine, partially of aluminium design, producing 27 PS (20 kW).

The higher centre of gravity of the engine also provided superior traction on steep slopes, though this advantage, which was also continued in later models, came at the expense of the car's infamous lack of cornering stability.

[12] The ZAZ-965 also inspired the 1962 prototype NAMI 086, named Sputnik (Fellow Traveller), with a 15 PS (11 kW) 500 cc (31 cu in) vee-twin (half an MeMZ-965), electromagnetic clutch and four-speed transmission.

[13] The ZAZ KD of 1969 was also based on the ZAZ-965, fitted with a glassfibre body,[13] giving it a weight of only 500 kg and a top speed of 75 mph (121 km/h) using just 30 PS (22 kW).

[14] The second generation of the Zaporozhets was a series of subcompact cars, starting with the ZAZ-966, which entered production in November 1966,[11] although the prototype was first demonstrated in 1961.

[10] It had a completely restyled bodywork (done entirely by ZAZ[11]), no longer resembling the Fiat 600 and arguably similar to the Chevrolet Corvair, Hillman Imp or the NSU Prinz.

[10] This was an effort to cure some of the ZAZ-965's issues, such as torsion bars that lost tension, suicide doors, and engines that overheated and made the cabin uncomfortably loud.

[13] The export ZAZ-968E (destined mostly for the Eastern Bloc) had headlights modified to meet international standards, a safety glass windscreen, and an anti-theft steering lock.

By that time, the Soviet Union had collapsed, Ukraine had become independent, and modern, front wheel drive economy cars from the West like the Volkswagen Polo and Ford Fiesta had become available in quantity, vehicles which the 1950s and 60s designed Zaporozhets had no hope of competing with.

Planned ZAZ-968s with 1,300 cc (79 cu in) or 1,400 cc (85 cu in) engines would never enter production, likely a side effect of the stagnation of Russia in the 1970s and 80s and the subsequent reign of Gorbachev, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the breakup of the Soviet Union occupying more attention than a little Ukrainian-built economy car whose mechanicals dated back to 1959.

In total, 3,422,444 Zaporozhets vehicles were manufactured in the Melitopol factory from 1960 to 1994, with all of them using the same family of air cooled V-4 engines mounted in the back.

[17] In the 1963 Soviet romantic comedy Three Plus Two, a ZAZ-965 with license plate number 18-15-лдг is featured in numerous scenes throughout the movie, and is even referred to directly in the script as "a tin can of the Zaporozhets system.