After Russian President Vladimir Putin showed his disappointment with his new Zavod imeni Likhachova, or ZiL for short, Russian car design website Cardesign.ru and Russian supercar maker Marussia held an independent design competition to see if anyone could wow good ol’ Vlad.
Two former students, Yaroslav Yakovlev and Bernd Weel, used DropBox, Skype and their combined brainpower to design something altogether Putin-worthy -- and it took them only a few weeks.
The two designers wanted the new design to draw the words "presence, power, timeless, minimalistic (but not primitive) and elegance" to mind. The concept certainly is all these things and more. Its design is influenced by Russian architecture, and the bold lines and almost sinister presence say power and authority. We shudder to imagine it rolling – nay, slithering up to the Presidential quarters. To see the ZiL concept on the streets would most definitely strike fear into the hearts of the Russian people, and that's exactly what a Russian Presidential limo should do -- scare the Putin out of the proletariat, if you will.
With all this huff puff, however, we wonder what was so wrong with Putin’s first ZiL model to begin with? Putin’s ZiL-4112P limousine went into the field last year, and the thing looks like a zombie-apocalypse-ready limo that could probably withstand a nuclear blast. The interior is large enough to fit a small army or Putin’s pet bear. Yeah, it’s a bit boxy, which might make wide turns a little tricky, but really, what limo isn’t? All in all, it appears to be pretty well thought out and a fairly traditional Presidential lorry.
From Putin’s general disposition, the ZiL is just too ordinary -- these days all the cool kids are driving around in ZiL knockoffs, and he doesn’t want to be like those little people. The president must have a style and swagger of his own, and, of course, the perfect vehicle to match.
After the hilariously doctored photo of a shirtless Putin riding a bear -- he did ride a horse topless recently -- we can’t help but ask what he is complaining about. Putin's other publicity stunts, from hang-gliding to scuba diving, take him far away from cars altogether.
So, will this concept become Putin’s new reality? Only time will tell.
[Source: MSN Cars UK]
Source: MSN
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