Big, heavy and blocky, Aurus Komendant is a projection of Russian state power at a time of great economic and humanitarian upheaval.
Unveiled last week at a museum run by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSO), whose mission is to protect government officials, the Komendant, like other Aurus vehicles, is primarily designed. to carry the Russian elite.
The Komendant has an upright stance, a large rectangular grille with vertical slats and square headlights. All of which gives the intersection more than an analogy with Rolls-Royce Cullinanalthough it doesn’t have the British car’s reverse hinged rear door.
On the other hand, the taillights look like a pre-facelift reference Bentley Bentayga.
The interior features Nappa leather, Russian metal and wood trim, adjustable ambient lighting, front and rear wireless phone charging, Wi-Fi hotspot and analog clock.
The rear two rows of seats have tables that fold out of the center tunnel, minibar-style refrigerators and personal multimedia screens.
Other available features include air suspension, adaptive steering and various driver assistance features.
The Komendant, like the Senat sedan, is equipped with a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 hybrid powertrain that produces a combined output of 446kW and 880Nm, and drives all four wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission with a 46kW electric motor. integrated.
Top speed is unremarkable 220km/h, while the same 0-100km/h time is looming at 6.5 seconds. Fuel economy is 18.5L/100km on the combined cycle. These stellar lower numbers can be attributed to the car’s high curb weight of 3235kg.
While the Komendant measures 5380mm long, 2004mm wide, 1820mm tall and has a wheelbase of 3100mm, the launch model has only four seats.
Riding on standard 20-inch alloy wheels, with 21- and 22-inch rims available, the Komendant’s air suspension can be raised from 230mm of ground clearance to 260mm if the road gets a bit rough, which they tend to be. work on the main road. cities like Moscow and St Petersburg.
As with other $200,000 luxury vehicles up north, the Komendant is highly customizable through a wide selection of leather, wood, and color combinations.
We don’t know how or when Komendant will start rolling down production lines as Russia has been sanctioned in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine and is cut off from the international interbank transfer system.
As a result, major industries have suffered from a shortage of imported components, and car manufacturers, including Ford, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and Renault, have left the country, selling their assets at large numbers. insignificant money.
Lada – formerly part of the Renault Group – has start production again mid-year, but only for back-to-back models that mostly work without foreign-sourced components.
For example, the “special edition” Granta is equipped with a basic 1.6-liter engine, four speakers, but no sound system.
Aurus was founded in 2018 for the official production of Russian state cars and will start selling civil versions of these vehicles in 2021.
Russia’s Central Motor and Automotive Research and Development Institute (NAMI) has a majority stake in Aurus. NAMI’s other major investment is Lada, which was acquired from Renault in mid-May of this year.
Before the invasion of Ukraine, Aurus sedans and limousines were built by Sollers at a plant jointly owned by Ford, which also produces Transit vans.
