<strong>"Vyatka" Scooter, produced from 1957 to 1966</strong><br /><br />Many early products were strikingly similar to Western designs, like this scooter that bears a striking similarity to the Italian Vespa.<br /><br />In the push for consumer goods, "[designers] didn't have the time to come up with new ideas," said Chiriac, so they traveled to the West and borrowed them.<br /><br />"It didn't really take off because it was too cold most of the time for people to use them, so it was a good example of a Western idea implemented without thinking of the local specifics."