AUTONEWS

Putin and his Russian Rolls-Royce

Putin seems so proud of his first official car, known as the Russian Rolls-Royce, as of his latest ballistic missile. And it intends to sell both internationally. The latest example came as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's visit to Sochi led the Egyptian leader to take a trip to the Formula 1 race track. But with Vladimir Putin as a driver.The Aurus Senat is the Russian Rolls-Royce, as it walks like the luxurious British car, offering the same kind of refinement and souplesse. But no matter how good the vehicle is, it effectively smashes any independent appreciation when the demonstrator is one such of Putin, one of the most respected - or feared - world leaders.If Putin habitually occupies one of the more spacious rear seats of the obviously armored Aurus Senat, the Russian President had no problem getting on the wheel and showing that the Aurus Senat is there for the turns - in this case literally. At the Sochi racecourse, built to host the Formula 1 races, the Russian head of state made a point of showing the potential of the "machine" to its Egyptian namesake.What was most curious about all this was the fact that, after Putin had taken the wheel, El-Sisi was forced to take the place of the passenger at his side, which left the security guards or members of the Egyptian government in the uncomfortable role of doing "boss", occupying the back seat.It is not known whether Putin has beaten the time lap by Lewis Hamilton, the Mercedes driver striding for another world title, but El-Sisi must have been impressed. All the more so, after this unusual demonstration, he and his staff analyzed in detail the Monovolume Aurus Arsenal, vehicle that resorts to the same base and that Putin also wants to sell to its partners.