VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Maxim Sokolov, head of Russian car maker Avtovaz, said on Wednesday the company has been on a recovery path after departure of its shareholder Renault and saw an 80% increase in sales in August from July.

He also said the company plans to produce new models of its flagship Lada car and the corresponding proposals would be presented at a board meeting later this month.

The company plans to manufacture 500,000 cars per year.

"After the previous shareholders Renault company had left in May, the company stood idle for more than two months ... but we managed to set up new production chains and logistics and safeguard the supply of components for production of base models," Sokolov told the Eastern Economic Forum.

"And in August, despite that in the first half of the year sales fell dramatically by 65%, we increased it from July by 80%."

New car sales in Russia in August fell 62.4% from a year earlier, after a drop of 74.9% in July, according to the Association of European Businesses (AEB). (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing By Jacqueline Wong & Shri Navaratnam)