In Afghanistan, the first own Mada 9 sports car was shown to the world.
Photo: video frame
“Bugatti skidding nervously in the corner!” “The spitting image of the Audi PC8, only more brutal!” “This is what a Lamborghini from the Middle East should look like,” either admire or joke (rather, the second) users of social networks at the sight of a new miracle of the Afghan auto industry. Last week, the country, ruled by the Russian-banned Taliban terrorist movement, showed the world its first Mada 9 sports car.
Several videos of the prototype have been leaked to the Internet. In one of them, a talibomobile with a pleasant hoarse rumble glides down a snow-covered road. In another video, a crowd of happy men (well, not women), dressed in elegant rags in the latest Afghan fashion, happily caress and stroke the nubs of a steel horse. “Import substitution will save the national industry!” “The sanctions of the collective West failed to bankrupt our economy!” – Happy exclamations are heard behind the scenes in the Pashto language (well, if we translate it correctly).
Now to the miracle of technology. The triumph of Afghan engineering impresses with a massive stern, a truncated hood and powerful wheel arches. Eeeee … Also, according to the laws of autojournalism, there should be an outburst of emotions in the spirit of “a black monster accelerates to 100 km in N seconds” and “a unique ride is achieved through a suspension design exclusive”. Yes, only the Taliban are stingy with details. Little is known about the new car. About technical data, and generally zero information. The Afghans shared with the world only that data:
– The car was produced by the local manufacturer ENTOP.
– The work of the prototype (that prototype so black) lasted five years, directed by 30 engineers.
– A modernized engine from Toyota Corolla is installed in the sports car (here any car expert should burst out laughing, because the strength of the Corolla is clearly not enough for a sports car, at least for upgrading).
– In the future, it is planned to release Mada 9 with an electric motor.
Why the name suspiciously resembles the Japanese Mazda and where the number 9 came from (and where are the previous eight?), Afghan innovators did not say. But they intimidated the global auto industry:
“This car will start its journey in Afghanistan, and one day it may enter the international market,” ENTOP CEO Mohammad Riza told local reporters.
It is? With this question, we called the car expert, partner of the analytical agency Avtostat, Igor Morzharetto.
– I saw these frames, – for some reason, the expert replied without much admiration in his voice. – It is not difficult to make such a car in one or two copies. Especially if you take ready-made units somewhere (engines, gearboxes, etc.) and design a body. At one time, Marusya was made by us on the same principle (the company appeared in Moscow in 2007, it also assembled sports cars on the principle of “from the world on a thread” and went bankrupt in 2014, – Ed.). But this car has no prospects for serial production today. To produce a car, we need related industries that make certain units. There are none in Afghanistan. And I don’t think any global company will cooperate with this government.
For our part, we add that before there was some kind of industry in the country. The USSR actively helped Afghanistan, in the second half of the last century, it built dozens of factories there. And the assembly of the screwdriver, even if not Bugatti, but some kind of “Lada” in Afghanistan could theoretically fit. But we left there, the Americans came, the Americans left, the Taliban terrorists came… In general, the engineers of the main Western car companies can sleep easy: Afghanistan today can only mass-produce dates and some substances prohibited, the production of which does not require high-quality technical specialists.
* A terrorist movement prohibited in Russia.
QUESTION EDGE
Why this circus?
A logical question: why did the Afghans inflate the world premiere of a hopeless car, and why now? We answer. The head of ENTOP, Mohammad Riza, helped us arrive at the only correct version.
“I hope the supercar will convey the value of knowledge to the people and help raise the image of Afghanistan on the world stage,” he said in an interview with the Afghan press.
And the image of Afghanistan now suffers greatly. This suffering has a scientific twist: at the end of December, the Taliban prohibited women from studying at universities. For this they are mercilessly criticized all over the world. And on this wave, the Afghans showed their “miracle of engineering.” Say, you see, what a powerful science we have: Enzo Ferrari himself is not our brother. So leave us alone, ourselves with mustaches and beards. We will continue to successfully develop our economy on the basis of import substitution without foreign Western values, such as women’s education.
