LADA is a brand of cars manufactured by AvtoVAZ in Russia, which is today majority owned by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Cars manufactured by AvtoVAZ were initially marketed under the Zhiguli brand, allegedly chosen after it was suggested by the designer, A. M. Cherny. When the cars began to be exported on foreign markets, the Zhiguli brand was found to be inappropriate, as it was hard to pronounce for non-Russian speakers, and it was said to resemble too closely the word gigolo.