President Putin's garage: what cars can we find there?

Russian President Vladimir Putin enjoys being surrounded by luxury. It would only make sense for him to have some of the most beautiful cars in his garage. Join us, as we review Russian president car interiors and specs. We will tell you all about the beautiful automobiles that belong to the president, as well as touch on some of the upcoming additions to his garage.

As you probably know, Vladimir Putin is the current (and seemingly permanent) President of the Russian Federation. He served his two presidential terms from 2000 until 2008 and then returned for the third term in 2012. Over the years, he has ridden various different cars, so we are going to talk about some of the most memorable vehicles in the presidential collection.

Current President Putin car collection

Due to the constant traffic jams in Moscow and surrounding areas, the president usually prefers to use his helicopter. It allows him to get wherever he wants without making the traffic even more unbearable than it already is.

While he is on the ground, however, Vladimir Putin often uses his Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman to move around. According to the register of the Federal Security Service, he has 11 of them in his garage. Putin used Mercedes-Benz S600 Pullman Guard (W140) during his first presidential term. He used the same car during his inauguration on May 7, 2004.

Pullman is stretched to six-plus meters in length. It uses the highest ballistic protection of class VR9 and armored doors of level B6/B7. All the glass in the windows is layered and covered with protective coating. The thickness of the windshield is 10 cm, and it weighs 130 kg. This car can save its passengers from small automatic weapons, grenade explosions and fire.

The inside of the president's car contains an armored capsule: inserts made of special steel are built between the frame and body panels, thermostable components provide protection from splinters. The car is powered by a 6.0-litre V12 engine, which can deliver around 394 PS (290 kW). It has automatic transmission.

Putin also uses minibuses. After becoming president, he dramatically increased the number of trips around the country. Therefore, he had a minibus made for him with special body protection for 8-10 seats, in which the head of state himself and his entourage can comfortably accommodate.

The mandatory attributes of all presidential vehicles are the armored capsule, the emergency run system (which gives the car the ability to move for 30 kilometers at the least at a speed of over 80 kilometers per hour, even if all four tires are shot), as well as an air quality control system and other amenities. All presidential cars are under the jurisdiction of the FSO structural unit - Special Purpose Garage (SPG).

An unused prototype

Many world presidents prefer to support their countries’ economies by purchasing their presidential vehicles from their national manufacturers. At one point, Putin decided to do the same and ordered a Russian car to be made for him.

The car Putin was supposed to drive, was ZiL-4112R, the prototype of which was released in 2012. It was created by Depo-ZIL, a company which specialized in retrofitting and restoration of cars.

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The automobile is a modernized version of ZIL-41047, which has been previously used by the General Secretary of the Communist Party back in the USSR times. Salon and the body were completely redesigned, the engineers used only the door handles and the hood from the original model.

Under the hood of ZiL-4112R you could find a the 7.7-litre V8 engine from ZiL, which produces 400 horsepower. The car is equipped with a five-speed automatic transmission that was specifically designed for this model by the Allison. The equipped weight of the car is 3800 kilograms.

ZiL limousine is equipped with ABS, climate control, stabilization system, window blinds and electric boot lid, bar, refrigerator, as well as a descending partition between the passenger and the driver with the built-in screen that displays images from external cameras. Moreover, the windshield contains a display of the readings of the various equipment.

However, for some reason, Putin decided to scrap this idea and to sell the prototype. The ad for ZiL-4112R was found on the website of advertisements for the sale of collector's automobiles Hemmings with a price tag of $1.2 million.

Upcoming upgrades to the president car cortege

2018 is the year of presidential elections in Russia, which means that the new president (which might as well be Putin) is going to get a brand new set of cars. The development of the new car park began all the way back in 2012 and is commonly known as Kortezh (cortege). It is planned that four types of cars will be created: a limousine car, a sedan, a crossover and a minibus.

The development of the new cars is carried out by the employees of Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engines Institute. By the way, the project itself is not called Kortezh (as it has been christened by journalists), but rather Single Modular Platform. It is planned that the new cars will serve not only the president, but also other senior Russian officials.

According to open data, foreign partners are also participating in the project: Porsche Engineering and Bosch Engineering have been involved in the development process. Porsche is responsible for one of the two engines in the new cars.

The design of new machines is being developed by the employees of the Russian Automotive Design, which is one of the divisions of the Institute we have mentioned before. There are several options for the external appearance of the Kortezh, but the final decision has not yet been made.

The media also discusses the place of assembly of the Kortezh. In 2014, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that crossovers will be assembled at UAZ facilities in Ulyanovsk. As for the limousines, according to journalists, they will be produced by the LiAZ bus plant in the Orekhovo-Zuevsky district of the Moscow region (owned by the GAZ group) and at KamAZ in Naberezhnye Chelny.

Putin is expected to accept the delivery of the first Kortezh in late 2017, so who knows, maybe he already has them. Approximately 200 of the vehicles will be enlisted to the Russian state’s fleet. Project Kortezh should be realised until 2018, which means that the new President of Russia will arrive at their inauguration on a new car.

That is all we have on the Putin car park, both current and upcoming. As you can see, the Russian president loves to move around in style. Do you like his taste in automobiles? Would you want any of the cars we have mentioned? Let us know!

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Source: Naija.ng