Luxury Version of the President’s Armoured Limo Revealed
Created to lure the super-rich Russians away from foreign luxury brands like Rolls Royce, the brand-new Russian luxury limousine was unveiled at a Moscow motor show. Branded as the Aurus, the vehicle is a luxury version of the US$300 million armoured limousine built for Vladimir Putin. It boasts a hybrid electric motor and can go from zero to 100km per hour in less than six seconds!
In competition with ‘The Beast’
Known for their competitive nature, it comes as no surprise that this impressive ‘brute’ of a car was released after the US president Donald Trump’s car ‘The Beast’ and all its features was featured in the media. The Beast has night vision cameras, pump-action shotguns installed in its doors, cannons that shoot tear gas, and several pints of the president’s blood, ready for an emergency transfusion. Tough competition! But at least the Russian version is slightly larger and bomb-proof, among other impressive features.
Soviet-era style
Vadim Pereverzev, chief designer of the luxury limo accredited the huge chrome grill on the boxy black limo, as well as other design elements, to Soviet-era models like the 1946 ZIS limousine made for the dictator Joseph Stalin. Putin riding in an Aurus to the Kremlin at his inauguration in May also marked a return of the tradition of leaders riding in locally manufactured ceremonial cars – a practice that was popular in the Soviet era. In previous years Putin had been spotted almost exclusively in Mercedes Benz vehicles.
Super comfortable. Super safe?
The seats of the luxury Aurus can recline up to 24 degrees. Passengers relax back into sumptuous downy pillows and enjoy a bevvy of cold beverages from the built-in refrigerator, served in custom branded Aurus glasses – the highest quality crystal of course. In addition to being ridiculously luxurious, and bomb-proof, the Aurus can also be fully submerged in water and run on tyres reinforced with steel. Who could possibly still want a Mercedes Benz?