“Moskvich”, of course, is still assembled from Chinese parts, but once the Russian “Zhiguli” began with the Italian Fiat.
Photo: Ivan MAKEEV
Everything new, as you know, is well-forgotten old. Young people today no longer remember how in the 90s the then Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov tried to transfer foreign car officials back to the Volga. 26 years ago, an attempt at patriotic motorization came to nothing. But can you try again? This, apparently, is what the Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, wants to do.
– If we are talking about large public procurement for government bodies, budgetary institutions, we still need to focus on the domestic auto industry, – said the speaker during the report of the Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov.
“We have Moskvich, we have Lada, we have Aurus,” Volodin listed.
“Moskvich”, of course, is still assembled from Chinese parts, but once the Russian “Zhiguli” began with the Italian Fiat.
Actually, Volodin, of course, is right. Officials and deputies will still have to be transplanted, and very soon. If you walk through the parking lot near the Duma, you can see a decent number of dark blue Ford Focus faded from regular washings. All of them are far from state of the art and obviously with solid careers.
And there is nothing special to upgrade the parking lot. Dear Aurus in terms of state, most likely, only high-ranking officials and members of the Duma receive. As in Soviet times, ZIL and Chaikas were driven by big managers, and Volga was already driven by party members and middle-class employees.
Any Ford can be exchanged for a stretched Vesta. It was just shown at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. But between Aurus and Vesta we have an empty space, which is not clear how to fill it. We do not have BMW or Toyota Camry cars. It is not clear how this existential contradiction will be resolved.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov himself, during whose speech the transplant proposal appeared, supported the idea. He assured that the Ministry of Finance is not opposed to the circulation of national cars.
