Don’t Bother Pre-Ordering Russia’s Tesla Rival
Kalashnikov’s goofy prototypes will probably never enter production; they’re advertisements for the brand’s remarkable comeback story.
Not going anywhere.
Photographer: Marina Lystseva/TASS/Getty Images
It’s easy to laugh at the goofy prototype of an electric vehicle that the Russian firm Kontsern Kalashnikov is billing as a competitor to Tesla. Yet there is a serious story behind the surprising recent turnaround of the vehicle’s maker, the creator of the iconic AK-47 assault rifle.
The CV-1 prototype was introduced at the Russian Defense Ministry’s annual exhibition this year. It has the body of an Izh Kombi, a clunker made in Izhevsk, where Kalashnikov is based, between 1973 and 1997. The electric vehicle looks like it was designed to fit a popular Russian meme used to describe clumsy technology and lifehacks: “Whadja think of that, Elon Musk?” But Kalashnikov probably won’t even try to mass-produce the car. The prototype is just a way to draw attention to the company’s bold diversification away from guns. The company makes and sells other electric vehicles, too: On Friday, it signed a preliminary deal to supply UM-1 electric motorbikes and UV-4 electric four-wheelers to the United Arab Emirates.