Wednesday, May 10, 2006

My Next Car

Russia's biggest carmaker plans to make a high-tech version of the Soviet-era Lada car that will be named after the creator of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, the Vedomosti business daily said.

"We will probably work... to create a military jeep," said the head of arms trader Rosoboronexport, Sergei Chemezov, quoted by the paper...

Vedomosti suggested the new car could be Russia's answer to the United States' Hummer, a vehicle originally designed for army use that is now a rich city-dweller's status symbol and is increasingly popular on the streets of Moscow.
Right after I win the lottery...

2 comments:

E. David Quammen said...

One can always use a Kalshnikov! Get in, start and your off like bullet, comrade!

Sell like potatoe cake! Say Natasha...

Da! Say Boris, much better than original name.... the 'Chernobyl'!

geekWithA.45 said...

I don't know who they think they're fooling. I'd driven a friend's lada in Hungary. It's ALREADY a kalashnikov.

It's cheap, roughly built, and designed without finesse.

My favorite feature was this electronic LED display doohickey the put in the rearview mirror. They thought they were being all cool and high tech, but since they failed to include a circuit to shut the device down when the ignition was off, it would drain the car's battery to death overnight.

As a result, the wires connecting the mirror to the car were clipped in every lada I saw.

When I asked my friend about it, commenting on the insanity/stupidity of the design, he shrugged. "Is Russian car! What do you expect?"