January 21: Vlad's rolling ego trip

Good ol' Vlad Putin. What a guy! Head of a country that is in the ditch, but his citizens love him for being Mister Tough Guy. Sure, they are out of work and out of bread, but boy, Vlad looks good, bare chested, standing up to the world. Hey, Barry, enough already with the political rant. What's your point?

A picture is worth......, well you know........

This is Vlad's kick at the old ego cat. All the big player countries have their own home grown luxomobile, so that their leaders can ride around in their national pride. Russia is a biggish player, but most of their auto industry consists of trucks and smaller cars developed by western partners. This just wouldn't do, so Vlad put his minions to work to develop a homegrown prestige mobile for him to show off to all his friends. The Aurus above is the result. Much like previous "party" cars, such as the Zil, the Aurus design borrows heavily, very heavily, from other high roller mobiles.

Check it out......

Rolls-Royce

Not convinced?

Bentley

 My, my, what creativity there is in the former Soviet Union. Come on, surely there might have been the possibility of throwing in an original line or two? Obviously, I don't subscribe to the "if you can't say something nice........" school of thought. But really?

And of course, this is the Senat model, the family sedan of oligarchs and thug like rulers. For those special occasions, when only a limo will do.......

Keeping up with his special friend The Donald? And his is only a Cadillac, while Vlad's is a psuedo Roll-Royce.

Think Putin is happy about this copying? Haven't heard of any designers being sent to the gulag lately, so most likely he's tickled red (communist). But Vlad is going one better than even Rolls.......

Now the boys in Britain have something to aspire to, a very high end luxury van. A new market niche created by those rascals in the east.

All well and good to sprout your very special car for those fortunate few, but would you be able to sell it anywhere else in this wide world? And more importantly, would Drake buy one?

Until next time......