Gazeta ru.- The serial production of the Russian Aurus executive cars has been launched at the Elabuga plant of Sollers Ford. The first vehicles are planned to be delivered to customers in June. President Vladimir Putin has participated in the opening ceremony via video-call and said that he sat behind the wheels of the car personally many times.
Alongside the production of Aurus, a prototype of a hydrogen-powered sedan has also been presented in the event. According to the Minister of Industry and Commerce: Denis Manturov, the laboratory sample of the luxury-class hydrogen-operated vehicle is one-of-a-kind in the world. The line of the executive-class models for the higher-up hierarchy of the government has been developed by the Federal State Unitary Enterprise NAMI since 2012. The project was originally named as Cortege and the automobiles rolled off the conveyor under the Aurus brand. More than 12 billion rubles have been spent on the creation of the car family from the budget.
The automobiles first appeared in public in 2018, when Vladimir Putin arrived at his fourth inauguration in an Aurus Senate Limousine. According to assumptions, the prices of the automobile will start from 6-7 million rubles in the basic version. Under the original plans, the vehicles were expected to be available for sales towards the end of 2018.
However, the prices have more than tripled by the actual start of sales in the beginning of 2021. The complete version of Aurus will be released to the market at a price tag of 22 million rubles and a more economic version may be put on the market for 18 million rubles in due course.
