Tsar Nicholas' Russo-Baltique car company revived with $1.3m model
GENEVA (-- The flowing, elegant lines and even the name of the Russo-Baltique Impression appearing at the Geneva Motor Show on Thursday for the first time mark a distinct shift in gear for Russia's ramshackle old motor industry.
So does the price tag: more than 1.0 million euros (1.3 million dollars).
To add to the complete break from the aura of cheap Ladas and Volgas produced under communism, the grandiose new coupe by young Russian industrial designer Ivan Shishkin unashamedly harks back to the elitist luxury of the tsars...
"You need to have an extravagant shape to attract attention," he said, casting an eye over his striking handcrafted blend of contemporary and 1930s design, space age carbon fibre and precious wood. [Photos
here.]
Shishkin's 30 employees honed the aerodynamic shape of the four-seat, 5.50-metre (18 feet) long coupe over the past two years. Each production model is expected to take 12 to 18 months of painstaking craftship.
The brand name Russo-Baltique revives a company that was founded on the shores of the Baltic Sea in Riga 100 years ago, when Latvia was part of the Russian Empire.
It was an offshoot of one of the largest industrial conglomerates and became the"official supplier of His Highness the Emperor's court."
Tsar Nicholas II bought two of the company's tourers, which were winning prestigious rallies at the time...
However, the Bolshevik Revolution put paid to such extravagance and the car company was closed down in 1919.
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So does the price tag: more than 1.0 million euros (1.3 million dollars).
To add to the complete break from the aura of cheap Ladas and Volgas produced under communism, the grandiose new coupe by young Russian industrial designer Ivan Shishkin unashamedly harks back to the elitist luxury of the tsars...
"You need to have an extravagant shape to attract attention," he said, casting an eye over his striking handcrafted blend of contemporary and 1930s design, space age carbon fibre and precious wood. [Photos
here.]
Shishkin's 30 employees honed the aerodynamic shape of the four-seat, 5.50-metre (18 feet) long coupe over the past two years. Each production model is expected to take 12 to 18 months of painstaking craftship.
The brand name Russo-Baltique revives a company that was founded on the shores of the Baltic Sea in Riga 100 years ago, when Latvia was part of the Russian Empire.
It was an offshoot of one of the largest industrial conglomerates and became the"official supplier of His Highness the Emperor's court."
Tsar Nicholas II bought two of the company's tourers, which were winning prestigious rallies at the time...
However, the Bolshevik Revolution put paid to such extravagance and the car company was closed down in 1919.