Сбоить: Russian President Medvedev’s Mega Driving Gaffe Caught on Video

The man behind the “Forward Russia!” movement, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, took his campaign motto a smidgen too seriously when he almost...forwarded a Mercedes M-Class he was driving into a crowd of people cheerfully waiting for him on the side of the road.

While we can’t be 100 percent sure, from the video it looks like Medvedev either forgot to put the SUV’s handbrake on or even worse, didn’t shift out of drive and into park before jumping out of the vehicle to meet his voters.

Fortunately, Medvedev’s security was alert and managed to stop the Mercedes before it hit the crowd. The incident allegedly occurred in the city of Kazan on Monday. The video, which you can watch after the break, went viral and has already more than 200,000 views on Youtube in less than 24 hours.

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Cold-War Leftovers still Very Popular in Russia

It’s been over two decades since the collapse of communism in the former USSR and the introduction of capitalism to what is now Russia. However, a relic from the past, a car that was introduced back in 1982 (actually even older if you count the vehicle upon which it was based on), is still quite popular with the locals.

The car we ‘re talking about is the Lada 2107 which along with the 2104 and the 2105 versions are Russia’s second best-selling cars, only behind Lada’s much newer Kalina hatchback.

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Sacha Baron Cohen gets Glitzy Gold Dartz for the Needs of his New Movie The Dictator

After becoming worldwide known for his portrayal of the fictional character Borat from the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, and the lesser successful flamboyantly gay Austrian fashion show presenter, Brüno, English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is returning to the big screen with a new movie called The Dictator.

And what may that have to do with a car site, we hear you ask? Well, for one, we’re going to see him facing off three Lamborghinis with his camel on the streets of New York, but most importantly, we learned that the dictator he portrays will ride in an “all-gold Dartz” armored truck.

For those of you with a weak memory, the Russian maker of the Dartz Prombron had made headlines about a year ago when it introduced a special version of the armored truck with its interior slathered in…whale-penis leather.

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Nissan Announces New Midterm Business Plan, will Introduce a New Vehicle Every Six Weeks for Six Years

Japanese carmaker Nissan Motor Co. revealed on Monday its new midterm business plan dubbed “Power 88”, with which it aims to boost both its global market share and profit margin to 8 percent within six years – hence the “88” reference in the name. Last year, Nissan, which is 44.3 percent owned by French partner Renault, had a 5.8 percent global market share.

The new plan calls for the introduction of 52 new cars for fiscal years 2011 to 2016, or about one new vehicle every six weeks.

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Save of the Day: Russian Driver goes to Hell and Back

If there was ever a lucky driver, it’s the Russian owner of this compact-sized silver sedan, which may or may not be a Lada. The protagonist of the video clip shot from an in-car camera went to hell and back again, when he foolishly attempted to overtake a vehicle without taking into consideration the situation ahead of him. Read more »

Was ist Das? Russians Create the Weirdest Audi Coupe You’ll Ever See

Sure, the new MINI Coupe is all the talk now and everyone is buzzing in his or her opinion on the two-seater model. However, if you really want a sporty coupe model that stands out from the crowd look no further than this creation from mother Russia.

Meet the ultimate Audi Coupe that blends an alarmingly shortened chassis and body from an Audi 80 with the front end of an A4 and the wider buttocks of a previous generation A6 sedan.

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Ford’s European Sales up 10.5 % in May

Ford’s auto sales across its 51 European markets (including Russia, Turkey and certain countries from North Africa) in May rose 13 percent to 143,800 units, up by 16,600 units from a year earlier. May sales in the firm’s traditional 19 European markets rose by 10.5 percentage points to 116,500, up by 11,100. Read more »

Vladimir Antonov Withdraws Proposal to Buy and Leaseback Saab Property

The ink has barely dried on Saab’s latest attempt to form a preliminary deal with China’s Pang Da Automobile and Youngman, and the Swedish company is faced with yet another problem as Russian investor Vladimir Antonov has withdrawn his proposal to buy and leaseback Saab property.

"The property sale is now being discussed with external investors," said Lars Carlstrom, Antonov's representative in Sweden. However, Carlstrom noted that the Russian banker was still interested in becoming a shareholder in Saab’s parent company Spyker Cars NV.

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VW Group Enters Production Deal with Russia’s GAZ

In its never-ending quest for global domination, the VW Group signed an agreement with the GAZ Group to assemble Volkswagen and Skoda models under contract at the Russian automaker’s in Nizhny Novgorod. The two companies had already concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding joint automobile production in Russia in February 2011 with a planned production volume of 110,000 vehicles per year.

Under the deal, GAZ will build the Volkswagen Jetta compact sedan, Skoda Octavia and Skoda Yeti crossover models for the Russian market, with the first vehicles to start rolling off the production line by the end of 2012.

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VIDEO: That’s the Spirit…Drunk Russians Sink Infiniti FX35

Once you watch this video, we are pretty sure that you will think twice before saying the little kid running around like a twister throwing sand all over the place and the odd couple trying to learn how to play rackets are the most annoying things you have ever seen at the beach.

The apparently intoxicated owner of this black Infiniti FX along with his equally messed up friends went berserk on a Russian beach (or at least the person who uploaded the video on Youtube claims that the incident took place in Russia) and put everyone in danger including themselves when they drove the Japanese crossover into and out of the sea.

In their third attempt to show their pedigree to beach goers they managed to sink the Infiniti, which of course was flooded with sea water once the driver opened the door... Follow the break to watch the video for yourself.

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Latvian Tuner Wraps BMW 3-Series in Crocodile Leather

There’s something about cars and animal leathers / prints that attracts certain tuners from Russia and the former Soviet states. You all remember the Russian design-house Dartz and it real whale penis leather-equipped Prombron and snake skin-covered Bentley Continental GT SS. Now another tuning firm called Vipon, this time from neighboring Lithuania Latvia, has come with a new animal leather themed proposal based on a pre-facelift E90 BMW 318i sedan. Read more »

Russians Build GAZ-51 Retro Hot-Rod from Cadillac Escalade EXT

Here at Carscoop we're no strangers to custom made creations from Russia. Some we find extremely intriguing, some just plain daft, but all manage to bring a smile to our faces. This (unfinished) project is the work of a company called 'Grande-Garage' and according to our Russian friends over at Cardesign, the retro-styled pick-up truck that is inspired from an old soviet truck called GAZ-51, is based on the underpinnings of the Cadillac Escalade EXT. The one-off creation is said to be built for a Russian plutocrat. Since the project is still in the works, we'll hold our final judgment until after we see it finished.

Via: Cardesign

Russia: Jeep Grand Cherokee Woodie Style

As they say necessity is the mother of invention - or in this case, a wooden log that was transformed into a front bumper for a previous generation Jeep Grand Cherokee. Apparently, the Russian owner of this Jeep did not have the necessary funds to replace the bumper on his SUV so he used whatever was in hand. Well, if anything else, his approach to the problem was at least eco-conscious...

Via: English Russia

Russians Build Volga GAZ-21 Replica Based on Porsche Cayenne SUV

Even if you do not like any of Cardi's proposals, you have to admit that the crew working at the Russian design and tuning firm have more imagination than a hundred Hollywood producers combined. Aptly named 'Volga Cayenne', the car is essentially a replica of the 1960's Volga GAZ-21 based on a modified Porsche Cayenne chassis. Bypassing the Stalin graphics and the red-star alloy wheels on the outside, the 5.1 meter long (roughly the same size as a Mercedes-S-Class) "Volga Cayenne" uses the same 450HP 4.5-liter turbocharged V8 engine as the pre-facelift Cayenne Turbo. Power is channeled to all four wheels through a 6-speed automatic transmission.

If we are to believe Cardi, the Stalinmobile 'Volgarized' Cayenne can accelerate from standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in 6.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 250 km/h (155 mph).