Avtovaz

During the first quarter of 2010, Russian automaker Avtovaz lost 2.6 billion rubles ($85M U.S.). In the second quarter it made almost a third of that back when it posted a net profit of one billion rubles ($32.7M U.S). The spike came courtesy of Russia's cash-for-clunkers program, which more than doubled the firm's sales over Q1 numbers to 149,100 cars.

The former Soviet car manufacturer's plants and available technology remains far from leading-edge, so buying underpinnings from other companies appears to be the most efficient way of building competitive new cars quickly.