Image copyright RIA Novosti
Mikhail Prokhorov's ONEXIM group refuses to continue developing the Russian hybrid "yo-mobile".
The reason for the failure in the investment fund is the sharp strengthening of the euro, which caused an increase in costs.
The group's press release says that the group transfers all technical documentation to the Russian automotive institute NAMI.
An employee of this institute told the BBC that so far they have not received any documentation there.
He also has no idea what NAMI will do with the project.
Experts believe that the project was initially doomed to failure, since it is impossible to create a "people's car" of such a technological level.
Fatal course
“In the current economic situation, against the backdrop of a sharp weakening of the automotive market, it has become impossible to implement a project to produce a car on the stated conditions with a profit. This is primarily due to an increase in capital and operating expenses as a result of the strengthening of the euro and the resulting inevitable increase in the final price car ", - said in a statement by the General Director of the ONEXIM Group Dmitry Razumov.
We do not see the prospect of selling the number of cars envisaged by the project and necessary for self-sufficiency Dmitry Razumov
General Director of ONEXIM Group
According to him, in addition to the increased cost of car production, the demand for cars of this class has fallen.
“We do not see any prospect to sell the number of cars envisaged by the project and necessary for self-sufficiency,” the statement reads.
The newspaper "Kommersant", citing an unnamed source related to the project, reports that as a result of rising costs and the emergence of unforeseen problems, the cost of one car could reach a million rubles, which does not correspond to the concept of an "affordable car".
Initially, as Mikhail Prokhorov stated, the car was supposed to be inexpensive to manufacture and affordable - it would cost 350-450 thousand rubles (10-13 thousand dollars).
However, according to experts, a hybrid "yo-mobile" cannot currently cost less than a million rubles (28 thousand dollars).
"How cheap could they be? I think they were worth millions," - said the BBC automotive expert, director of APV-Creative Group Stanislav Pavlov, commenting on the current cost of "Yo-mobile".
According to him, "at present, no one has yet managed to make just a cheap car in the modern world, and if we are talking about a hybrid, then simply not."
Loud project
Plans to build a Russian hybrid car were first announced in April 2010. In November it became known that it would be called "Yo-mobile".
It was originally planned to produce a car on this platform in three bodies - a crossover coupe, a micro van and a small van.
At the same time, it was planned that the engine of the car would run on gasoline or gas, and the wheels would be rotated by electric motors.
At the beginning of 2011, the ё-AUTO company, which was supposed to produce the car, said that assembly plants would appear in 5-7 regions of Russia and in two European countries.
In April of the same year, the prototype of the car was "run in" by Vladimir Putin, who went on it from Novo-Ogarev, near Moscow, to the residence of President Dmitry Medvedev in Gorki.
Politics
According to many experts, the Yo-mobile project was not only a business venture for Prokhorov, but also worked for his image as a politician.
In the summer of 2011, Mikhail Prokhorov headed the Just Cause party, but in September, after a scandal at the pre-election congress, he was removed from the party's management and left its ranks.
He publicly accused the deputy head of the presidential administration of Russia Vladislav Surkov of involvement in the scandal.
Image copyright RIA Novosti Image caption On April 1, 2011, Vladimir Putin rode an ё-mobileAfter that, the company began to face administrative delays. In particular, the Federal Antimonopoly Service canceled the tender for the construction of a road to the "yo-AUTO" plant near St. Petersburg.
In December 2011, Prokhorov announced plans to run for president and even presented another candidate, LDPR chairman Vladimir Zhirinovsky, with a certificate for receiving an "yo-mobile" during a televised debate.
Doomed to fail?
Although problems with funding began in the fall of 2011, the project continued to develop, in the summer of 2013, pre-production samples were presented to the public, and the company said that serial production could begin as early as 2015.
But in February 2014, the start of car production was postponed indefinitely, and there were reports in the Russian press that the project could be closed.
As Stanislav Pavlov told the BBC, he initially did not believe that this project could be implemented, but he applied for the purchase of an "yo-mobile" because he believed in a miracle.
“It seemed to me that even if such a small project to create a Russian car appeared, it would be a miracle,” admitted the director of APV-Creative Group.
In 2010, he did not mention miracles. "The market is not just shrinking, but just shrinking like grapes into raisins. Now is probably not the best time to launch new products," he told the BBC then.
Other experts also expressed doubts that it would be possible to create a new car "from scratch" in Russia.
According to Mikhail Lyamin, an analyst with the Bank of Moscow, the most popular cars in Russia are “budget options” of AvtoVAZ's Zhiguli, while in more expensive segments, already proven brands are preferred.
"These are all fairy tales"
The ONEXIM group says that during the development of the car, technological solutions were created that they could sell, but they prefer to transfer them to the state in the person of the automobile research institute NAMI.
"We had a number of proposals from foreign companies to purchase the project and its individual developments. But today, taking into account the new economic realities, the ё-mobile platform can and should be used in a different direction: we have been working with US for a long time and we understand that taking into account a large number of various projects of this institute, our developments can be more widely used in the further development of both domestic cars, and freight and public transport ", - said the General Director of" Yo-AUTO "Andrey Ginzburg.
The ONEXIM press release spoke of a certain agreement with US on the transfer to the state of the drawings and other documentation of the "Yo-mobile" project.
Meanwhile, a source at the institute did not confirm the BBC's receipt of such drawings. "Nothing comes to us and should not be transferred. If they do it, then we will talk," he said.
According to a representative of NAMI, this car could not be cheap: "Will it be cheap? Never, these are all fairy tales. He needs service. Fabulous. And there are no fairy tales," he said.
Yo mobile car. Technical characteristics of your mobile. The principle of operation of your mobile. Yo mobile factory. Buy yo mobile. The cost of your mobile
Russians always have some kind of lofty dream. One of them - . Historically, all the earlier attempts by the Russian industry to make people happy with a budget car of their own production turned out, frankly, not entirely successful. It is not possible to explain this phenomenon by any logical arguments, because all the necessary components for creating an inexpensive, reliable and modern car have always been present in Russia: both scientific personnel who want to make a discovery and thereby immortalize their name, and financial resources, which are generous patrons of the arts. ready to invest in the promotion of a new brand, and competent engineers and workers.
Outside, yo mobile is an ordinary car 🙂
This is not to say that no one tried to create a budget model of a passenger car. The cost of your mobile will be, according to the assurances of the plant management in the range of 360-500 thousand rubles. and will depend on the car model and its equipment. Of course, there were attempts, but only one of them went through all the stages from theoretical development to the construction of a production plant. If you haven’t heard anything about the miracle of the Russian car industry - yo mobile, this article will answer all your questions. And if those still remain, you can take a look at the official website of yo mobile yo-auto.ru. So, what is this yo mobile and how does it compare favorably with its fellow hybrids?
The car is based on the persistent long-term work of domestic scientists and designers. As a result of this work, a fundamentally new car was obtained, which practically has no analogues in the world. Successful technical and economic solutions, I think, will be an excellent help for conquering the domestic and European markets for auto sales, and there the American one is not far off. An unusual name is a certain contribution of developers, according to their assurances, to the treasury of Russian national culture (no more - no less). The technical side of the project differs significantly from that produced by most of the domestic competitors. The engineers took the modular design principle of the model range as a basis.
A delivery van is not forgotten in the model range of yo mobiles.
Innovations also include a multi-fuel rotary vane engine, traction motors and unitized generators. Moreover, engineers are absolutely convinced of the reliability and safety of these nodes. Initially, it was even planned that the hood of the car would be non-opening. However, this curious, but not very practical idea was soon abandoned. At the same time, Andrei Ginzburg, who is the chief designer of the Russian hybrid, convinces that all the units located under the hood will be able to adequately serve as long as the car itself, and moreover without any outside interference.
The height of Mikhail Prokhorov is 204 cm.But he can easily be removed into his mobile and it pleases me with a height of 190 🙂
By the way, it was thanks to the new developments that the designers were able not only to improve the technical characteristics of their invention, but also to reduce as much as possible the weight and dimensions of the units and assemblies. As a result, the car with relatively small external parameters turned out at the same time quite spacious inside. The funny fact that the "father" of her mobile, Mikhail Prokhorov (with his height of more than two meters), sat quite freely in the back seat on one side and easily got out on the other side, eloquently confirms this idea!
Technical characteristics of the Yo mobile (Yo cross-coupe)
The technical characteristics of your mobile are impressive today.
Dimensions LxWxH, mm: 4065 x 1832 x 1495
Concept: 4x4 all-wheel drive cross-coupe with increased ground clearance of 210 mm.
Yo-car colors: one basic, the second to choose from (double color)
5 seats (with driver)
Airbags: 2 pcs.
Curb weight: 1100 kg.
Gross weight: 1600 kg.
Tires: R16 with RUN-FLAT system (can be driven at a puncture speed up to 80 km / h for a distance of 80 km)
Wheels: cast
Cruise control: yes
ABS: yes
ESR: yes (implemented by the control system)
The body is based on composite and polymer materials
LED optics
Engine: rotary vane
Power: 45 kW (60 HP) (no vehicle tax charged for this power)
The power plant, consisting of an engine + generator and an energy storage system, provides a power-to-weight ratio similar to a 2-liter 150-horsepower internal combustion engine.
Acceleration time: 100 km / h:
ECO mode: 10 seconds
SPORT mode: 7 seconds
Fuel: gasoline 92 / natural gas (methane)
Installed two tanks mode:
gasoline - 20 liters
compressed natural gas - 14 cubic meters or
liquefied natural gas - 20 liters
Fuel consumption: 3.5-4 liters per 100 km.
Environmental class: EURO-5
Cruising range with two full tanks: 1100 km
Cruising range on energy storage devices (engine off): 2 km
Maximum speed: 130 km / h
Multifunction steering wheel
Touch control panel
Possibility to choose a color scheme for information panels
Climate control
GLONASS and GPS navigation system
Included multimedia system
Internet: 4G YOTA or another provider
Bluetooth phone (legendary yo-background)
Start of production of the ё-cross-coupe - the second half of 2012
How your mobile works
The principle of operation of the yo-mobile is based on the sequential hybrid scheme. In this scheme, the engine is only needed to charge the battery, and the movement itself occurs with the help of two electric motors that rotate the front and rear axles.
There have long been hybrid cars in the world that use the parallel hybrid scheme, when the movement can be carried out either only on an internal combustion engine, or only on electricity. And then there are electric cars.
The principle of operation of your mobile is over 100 years old. Automotive legend Ferdinand Porsche used it at the beginning of the last century in the manufacture of racing cars. at the beginning of the 20th century. Now this principle is widely used in diesel submarines, sea and river vessels, railway locomotives, mining tractors.
The ё-mobile does not use an ordinary storage battery as an electric power source, but an innovative supercapacitor of huge capacity. The capacitor is fully charged from the DC generator in ten minutes of engine operation, holds the charge well at low and high temperatures. Thus, the rotary vane motor serves only to recharge the capacitor. This engine is very economical and can run on both gas and petrol.
The car lacks a gearbox, clutch, cardan, transmission and all mechanical components necessary to transfer torque from the shaft of an internal combustion engine to the wheels.
The design is simpler and more efficient. The efficiency with this principle of operation of an ё-mobile is about 30%, which is 2 times higher than for a car with a conventional gasoline or diesel engine.
And Prime Minister Putin took a ride behind the wheel of his mobile to the residence of President Medvedev
This is not to say that this car model is completely innovative. Such hybrids have been produced by foreign companies for a long time, however, as a rule, their cost, and most importantly, the power characteristics do not give them even the slightest opportunity to compete with their multi-cylinder counterparts. This does not mean that the hybrid car industry has resigned itself to defeat and none of these models is worth mentioning. However, yo mobile is still a unique model, according to the characteristics presented on the site, even against the background of its more famous foreign counterparts.
Where to buy an e-mobile.Yo mobile factory
If you believe the developers and the stated technical characteristics for her mobile, we really have a dream car. The car that many motorists have dreamed of for so long and hopelessly. An object of pride that can be casually flaunt in a conversation with foreign friends: "Have you heard how your mobile won the next stage of the Paris-Dakar races?" Well, or something like the headlines in the newspaper: "Another Porshe plant has been converted for the production of Yo mobiles." Judging by the confident statements of the developers of the miracle machine, we are promised a small revolution in the market of inexpensive hybrids and this event will happen immediately after the construction of the first Yo mobile plant.
However, I would advise you not to rush to put on rose-colored glasses - they will help someone, but not for someone. It is necessary to look at things with healthy skepticism - this will not only save our money, but also help the domestic auto industry really create something worthy of proud mention and stable use.
So, what are the positive aspects, dignity of a car worth it to buy yo mobile? Firstly, the combination of a motor, a supercapacitor and two traction electric motors on each axle should ensure reliable cross-country ability of the car in the conditions of difficult Russian realities and add speed on a good and level track. The lack of weaknesses that are present in traditional cars: transmission, crankshaft and electronic injection - make Prokhorov's brainchild a dream of any motorist. Especially the one who spent many hours of precious time trying to find and eliminate the reason for the refusal to wind up at his favorite toy. It is planned to install an experimental rotary vane engine in the role of the heart of the Russian hybrid. Of course, on the one hand, the technical characteristics of such an engine are really impressive. It is lightweight, small in volume and has a long service life. For such an engine, both gasoline and methane are perfect, and with a consumption of 3.5-4 liters per 100 km, the engine will be able to produce the equivalent of 150 horsepower. On the other hand, independent experts talk about a huge period of research and refinement of this very engine.
But miracles do not happen in nature: the inventors could not take into account all possible nuances. It will take seven years, according to the most optimistic calculations of the most ardent pessimists, to identify these very nuances of inventors. That's right, and only after that can your mobile become a real and worthwhile means of transportation. After all, the soul of every car is in its engine. And if this very soul, when trying to climb a steep hill, with which Mother Russia abounds, stalls or refuses the driver's request to leave the snowdrift in the early morning, can such a unit be called a real car?
The real one - no, but the yo-mobile - yes!
What, apart from untested novelties, are developers trying to bribe future customers with? The creators of the "Russian miracle" promise to save their customers' finances by reducing the amount of fuel that the car uses. The modular design of the car will also be very useful and economical. It will allow, if necessary, to replace any unit relatively simply and cheaply, in other words, in case of breakdowns, it will reduce the cost and simplify repairs, and if the driver wants to improve the car (we are the country of the Samodelkins), it will help to get rid of a little blood.
The idea of a hybrid car is currently so tempting that you just want to buy it, or at least order it on the website. to purchase it (even though it is not yet clear what the specific cost of your mobile will be). However, what a barrel of honey without a fly in the ointment! First, these wonderful cars still need to be put into mass production. We all know that many truly wonderful ideas have never been implemented due to lack of funds or for other equally important reasons. Meanwhile, the sale of ё mobiles has not yet been established, and the launch of mass production is planned only at the end of 2012. Secondly, the whole concept of a miracle car is based on the use of super-accumulators - capacitors - devices that accumulate the energy of the movement of a car when driving from a rotary vane engine and transmit it, if necessary, to an electric motor. If you do not take into account this convenient and useful innovation, then we have before us a completely ordinary hybrid, nothing but the name does not differ from its Western competitors.
First Yo-mobile plant will open in January-February 2013. near St. Petersburg, the billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the presidential candidate, said at his press conference. “Everything is on schedule, there are no problems,” he said, adding that production will be much cheaper than launching “any models of Japanese concerns”. The company intends by 2016. bring it to full design capacity (90 thousand vehicles per year).
The first cars to roll off the assembly line will be crossovers. It is this popular model that accounts for about 85% of the pre-orders received on the e-mobile on the site. The official acceptance of preliminary applications for "yo-mobiles" began on May 16, 2011. As of today, there are already more than 180,000 applications. True, it is not a fact that all applicants will buy a car (or change their minds, or there will be no money), but in any case, the full load of the plant for the first 2 years of its operation is ensured.
It is known that the dual-fuel internal combustion engine (ICE), which will be installed on e-mobiles in the first series, will not be domestic, but imported. The machine has a three-year warranty.
The Yo-mobile project is being carried out by the Yo-Auto joint venture, 51% of the shares of which belong to the ONEXIM group of M. Prokhorov and 49% - to Yarovit Motors CJSC. At the end of 2010. prototypes of three variants of the car were presented to the public: a cross-coupe, a minivan and a city van. The total financial investments of ONEXIM and Yarovit in the development and organization of serial production amount to 150 million euros. The maximum cost of the car will reach 500 thousand rubles, the minimum - 360 thousand rubles.
Yo racing mobile with a 3.0l BMW engine and a parallel circuit of a hybrid
However, who knows, perhaps the original name will help the new product break all sales records. However, do not forget about the harsh amendment to Russian reality: the imagination draws a plant for its mobiles somewhere deep in Siberia, where in a dark workshop harsh Siberian men, who have never heard of maps of landings and tolerances, measure out the size of parts of a new car by eye. Or, say, a batch of new supercapacitors, which may simply get lost somewhere between the Urals and Sakhalin. However, the invention and sale of ё mobile for the consumer is not even half the battle, because each problem must be approached in an integrated manner. If the program to promote the Russian innovation to the market seems to be working well, there are still several critical tasks: it is necessary to provide customer service and support. After all, you can buy your mobile, of course, but if you can't find spare parts for it, any breakdown will send your mobiles to the factory for a new product. It is only at the factory or on the mobile website that they can say that the car will never break down during operation. The harsh reality will quickly put everything in its place. I'm not talking about the creation of many training centers for training specialists in the repair of this wonderful product - and there are actually more than one or two such problems.
And the future of this promising project depends on how comprehensively Prokhorov and the company approached the creation of their brainchild. The solution of these everyday and uninteresting problems for the buyer becomes a serious obstacle on the way of the novelty. However, behind her mobile one can feel a strong state hand - it was not for nothing that the prime minister used to go to visit the president, and not in his usual Mercedes?
And still, an attempt to create such a car is a considerable step forward, showing the enormous potential of Russian scientific thought, which is capable of being embodied in a completely real car, even if in a single copy. However, the creators of the novelty are asked not to use such a name, positioning their brainchild as something completely different from the classic car. Moreover, for once, the cost of a novelty will not be comparable to the price of a new foreign car of the C-class.
The cost of your mobile
In mid-2011, the official was announced (but I think it's still preliminary) the cost of your mobile... The most affordable for consumers, as it was announced, will be a mono-drive model in the basic configuration. Regardless of the body type, the minimum cost of an e-mobile will be 360 thousand rubles. A chic crossover with a dual-fuel engine (they promise that it will be able to run on liquefied gas fuel as well) will cost the Russians 450 thousand. By the way, this can also be counted among the advantages that are pleasant for buyers. You do not need to study the auto offers market to understand: the cost of your mobile compares favorably with the price tag of its foreign counterparts.
Yo mobile at the rally "Belogorie 2012"
At the end of February 2012, Yo mobile first took part in rally "Belogorie 2012"... A total of 35 crews took part in the rally, of which 27 reached the finish line. Among the losers was the Russian rally champion Alexander Zheludov from the ё-Auto team, who was entrusted with driving a hybrid racing ё-crossover (hybrid parallel, main drive - from BMW 3.0 l engine), which took part in official competitions for the first time. The first 2 days everything went well, there was the second overall result on the basis of the results of two days. But at the start of the third day of the race, the yo-mobile's engine overheated. Before that, the wipers and elements of the front suspension broke down and the back door opened on the move on bumps.
“For our team, the result of participation in the 1st stage of the Russian Rally-Raid Championship, despite the lack of a sporting result, is generally positive. We showed that we can go fast, go at the level of the leaders of the race "- commented the head of the" yo-Auto "team Alexander Senkevich.
Alexander Zheludov piloted the second version of a sports car. It was assembled in record time and the team did not even have one day to test it. And in auto racing, all units work at their limit.
Video Yo mobile at the rally "Belogorie 2012"
However, there are no reasons for pessimism, as well as for optimism, because not a single mass specimen has left the assembly line yet. The design development and preparation for implementation was delayed, despite the great financial capabilities of the presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov. Soon the fairy tale only affects itself, especially in Mother Russia, where they harness for a very long time. However, despite all the difficulties and problems, how do you want to believe that this time our engineers at the ё mobile plant in the tangible ё-future will be able to materialize the ideas of talented auto designers on the stream, which will not be the subject of discussion of the Keveans and residents of the comedy-club. And if the hybrid turns out to be at least half the way the creators excitedly describe it, it will become profitable and prestigious to buy its mobile.
Yo mobile video- the concept car is laid out below.
I don’t know about you, dear friends, but for me the purchase of her mobile may be a matter of honor, my contribution to the support of Russian craftsmen, a contribution to the development of our, not the foreign car industry. And if you want, in a way to tell foreigners that Russia can not only produce oil and gas, but Russia can also make cars that are competitive on the world market.
Don't let us down, yo mobile! We are waiting for you! We hope and believe !!!
Following Mikhail Prokhorov's unsuccessful attempt to create a popular hybrid "Yo-mobile", attempts to create the first supercar in Russia failed. It was the development of the company Marussia Motors Nikolay Fomenko. Prokhorov and Fomenko set out on too ambitious and large-scale projects that require much more money, experience and time.
Businessman and politician Mikhail Prokhorov and actor and showman Nikolai Fomenko are united by an ambitious desire to create a new purely Russian car. For the sake of his political ambitions, Prokhorov wanted to develop the first popular hybrid car, and Fomenko, for the sake of his love for motorsport and Formula 1, the first Russian supercar. Outwardly patriotic. But both of them did not go well with the realization of what they wanted, which symbolically became known in one day.
The closure of Marussia Motors was first announced by one of the forum participants on the Cardesing.ru website. According to him, employees of Marussia Motors were fired, the last two months they have not been paid a salary. Some of the employees of the Fomenko auto company have already gone to work at the Central Research Automotive and Automotive Institute (NAMI), a forum participant said.
Marussia Motors itself did not respond to phones and to a written request on Monday. However, NAMI newspaper VZGLYAD confirmed that some of the employees of Marussia Motors went to work at the institute. NAMI could not provide more detailed information.
After the information leaked on the forum about the closure of Fomenko's company, other former employees of Marussia Motors confirmed this to various media.
Why closed
“The concept developed by the Marussia team turned out to be unviable, it is impossible to implement it into a series,” one of the former employees told RBC. Production is also closed, the liquidation team is selling assets, says the former manager of Marussia. Private investors managed to invest about EUR 100 million in the project.
According to a Motor.ru source, Marussia Motors is going to leave the production facilities at the Snezhinka refrigeration equipment plant, which is located next to the Botanichesky Sad metro station.
There are no official reasons for the closure of Marussia Motors, and the unofficial ones are the squabbles of Nikolai Fomenko with the leadership of Cortezh and the lack of investment since last year. This was told by a former employee at the forum. "Cortege" is a project to create a car for top officials of the state, the developer of which was FSUE "NAMI" together with Marussia Motors.
The closing of the Yo-mobile project was reported in ONEXIM (85% in the Yo-auto JV) to the Kommersant newspaper. The named reason, on the one hand, is quite logical and is also suitable for Marussia Motors. The situation in the Russian economy and the automotive market is different than four years ago: the economy is shrinking, car sales are falling, and the demand for a people's car is no longer so obvious. The weakening of the ruble increased the cost of production, the components for which in their bulk had to be imported.
As a result, the budget of the Yo-mobile project has grown to 450 million euros, which automatically means the appearance of a completely non-popular price for a people's car. The price is already announced at 1 million rubles instead of 350 thousand rubles at the very beginning of the project. Therefore, having spent only a few hundred million euros, Prokhorov decided to admit defeat.
Swung
However, on the other hand, it is quite possible that Prokhorov and Fomenko simply swung at too ambitious projects, not calculating the timing of implementation and the scale of work.
The VZGLYAD newspaper, like many industry experts, did not believe for a long time that Yo-mobile would ever drive on Russian roads. This was obvious to many, even when the Yo-auto company announced a preliminary record for the yet-to-be-released popular hybrid. The parameters of the project itself, the place and volume of production, as well as the price of the people's car, were constantly changing, postponed, new ones were called. And the fact that the heart of the car - its engine - will not be something innovative has long been recognized by the company itself. Why create what is already there? For example, AvtoVAZ, the most popular manufacturer, has a hybrid Lada Granta, which the same NAMI helped to develop.
Prokhorov and Fomenko's projects failed because they decided to create a new "bicycle" from scratch. Whereas cooperation with international companies that have already achieved success would significantly reduce both the cost of ambitious projects and the timing of their implementation.
“Foreign companies have been producing such cars for several years. Hybrids appeared about 15 years ago, sports cars - about 50. Accordingly, foreigners allocate much less money for their production than we do. This is because we do not have production facilities to assemble such cars, but they are abroad, "says Ivan Andrievsky, First Vice-President of the All-Russian Public Organization" Russian Union of Engineers "to the VZGLYAD newspaper.
Foreigners are ahead because they have long been investing in innovative automotive development and spending billions on it. And they can afford it, because at the same time they make money on the sale of traditional cars. For Yo-Auto and for Marussia Motors, their automobile projects are business projects from scratch with dubious business plans and paybacks, designed only for generous investments from private investors.
At one time, the development of a hybrid Toyota Prius, ChevroletVolt, or an electric car Nissan / Renault cost about $ 1 billion. Every year, the world's leading car manufacturers carry out dozens of R&D projects for a total of 2-4% of their sales, which is more than $ 30 billion annually, or an average of $ 1-3 billion per manufacturer (NAMI data).
For comparison: Prokhorov spent several hundred million euros on Yo-mobile in four years, Fomenko, according to unofficial data, 100 million euros, presumably since the company's foundation in 2007.
For a very long time, AvtoVAZ itself tried to develop a new platform for updating the model line, even attracted the component manufacturer Magna. Then this project was closed, because instead of a budget car, a premium one was obtained. And to decide to sell an expensive car under the Lada brand is money deliberately wasted.
But when AvtoVAZ used the R90 platform, which had been created long ago by Renault (this is the Logan platform), a new LadaLargus model immediately appeared. The automotive industry has long needed global cooperation, as is the case in aviation. And there, you see, Russian employees who have worked with foreign know-how will come to NAMI and will make a car for the president to replace Mercedes cars much faster.
To leave beautifully
We must pay tribute to Prokhorov, who not only enchantingly announced his project back in 2010 and rather actively promoted him (or himself) all these four years. He also ended this epic with a good PR action: ONEXIM told only one publication about the closure of the project, whose sources believed that the company could sell its intellectual property for at least $ 200-300 million, and American or European manufacturers could buy the development of one large node for $ 200 million. But instead, Prokhorov made a politically beautiful gesture - he transferred technology to the state in the person of NAMI. The Yo-mobile project was awarded to the institute for a symbolic one euro.
Fomenko and Marussia were distinguished by a more restrained PR strategy and also closed the company quietly. The company just closed. Perhaps because attempts to sell were unsuccessful, or there was simply nothing to sell. At least if no deals are announced, then this is so.
Further on the Marussia B car shown at the end of 2008, and later - Marussia B2 and the concept of the Marussia F2 crossover, Fomenko's business did not go well. Although it was planned, with the help of the Finnish engineering firm Valmet Automotive, to bring these cars to small-scale production and actively promote them in Western markets. But during this period the company had its own Formula 1 team.
What awaits the projects of Marussia and Yo-mobile
Fomenko's project to create supercars, most likely, has no future. But the state project for the development of the presidential limousine still has a chance to be realized. Still, it's not good when German Mercedes cars are used to transport the Russian leadership. In particular, President Vladimir Putin drove a Mercedes-Benz S-Guard Pullman. In fact, the Cortege project is the first practical step since Soviet times to create domestic cars for VIPs.
Yes and Marussia Motors was only an assistant, and FSUE "NAMI" was determined as the main and only executor of the state order. The Institute will be able to get the work done by Marussia at least at the expense of the employees who escaped from the sunken ship Fomenko.
Investments in the rather topical project "Cortege" have already been promised. In February of this year, the government announced that it would allocate 3.6 billion rubles for this project for 2014-2016.
As for the Yo-mobile technologies, the Ministry of Industry and Trade gratefully accepted the transfer of these technologies by NAMI and the state. However, what will come of them is not yet clear. But it is unlikely that it will be a popular hybrid car for 350 thousand rubles, as Prokhorov dreamed. The Ministry of Industry and Trade, together with US, intends to study the developments of the businessman's company and understand in which projects they can be useful. The plant near St. Petersburg, which was built for Yo-auto, is likely to be transferred to the institute as well.
The direction proposed by Prokhorov and Fomenko is absolutely correct, in this direction it is necessary to develop the Russian automotive industry, Andrievsky believes. However, these failures have now made it clear that we cannot do without the experience of foreigners.
An article-reasoning about why the idea of creating "Yo-mobile" failed, which led to the collapse of the production of the model. At the end of the article - a video where Zhirinovsky talks about the breakdown of his Yo-mobile.
The content of the article:
One in four Russian hybrid vehicles has fallen into disrepair. The Yo-mobile, created by businessman Mikhail Prokhorov and donated to politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, had a battery crumbling, according to the owner. Apparently, the short history of the only budget, "popular", incredibly efficient car ended before it really started. Already, the factory production in Maryino, in which Prokhorov invested 150 million euros, is abandoned, and the last movements on it were noticed already in the spring of 2016.
In the beginning was the word
The brilliant idea of starting a revolutionary automobile production was visited by businessman and politician Mikhail Prokhorov back in 2010. The founding father's ambitions were such that the function of pre-ordering the future car was immediately available on the Yo-mobile's official website. There were an astonishingly many people wishing to try out the novelty - 214 thousand, and the release of the first models was scheduled for 2013.
However, despite the declared powerful team of professionals, neither in 2013, nor even in 2014, the Russian society did not see the promised curiosity. Finally, in the summer of 2016, the proud "father" first got behind the wheel of his brainchild at an economic forum in St. Petersburg. Then there was a PR campaign, advertising of the high technologies chosen to equip the car, and several demonstrations of an experimental model, which became the first and last appearances of the Yo-mobile to the general public.
And 2016 began with a statement by the Committee for Industrial Policy and Innovation that all investors and founders of Yo-Auto and Yarovit Motors disappeared without a trace.
Was there a boy?
If you walk through the territory of the Maryino industrial park, where the guards are very willing to let you in, the depressing impression is made by ownerlessness, desolation and impenetrable mud. The security guard confidently declares that the entire construction has been frozen, according to rumors, for a couple of years, but, most likely, forever.
The Yo-mobile production workshop is an empty box without any filling: an abandoned room and rusty pipes. Rare workers, who remained here after either not started or not finished construction, show boxes covered with rags. They contain a German press, on which it was planned to create a car body, and parts that have never seen the light of day. The equipment was supposed to be much larger, but for some reason it was never delivered from Germany and America. But in the corner gathering dust "Yo-crossover" and "Yo-concept", which could not even start. This is the apocalyptic look of the enterprise, which promised to release 40 thousand cars a year from the assembly line by 2018.
Reach for a dream
The first designer of the hybrid, Alexander Sinkevich, is very depressed by the direction into which an initially good idea turned. The conceived project offered a car that was really cheap, economical, practical and at the same time very efficient.
Naturally, the Russian automotive industry will never be able to compete with the world automotive leaders, so the emphasis of Yo-mobile was on uniqueness. It was supposed to be a fundamentally new vehicle with a simple design but rich content. It was supposed to do the following:
- A shared gadget car that would start with a credit card. It could then be left in a specific location after use for another person to use.
- Radical design with reinforced polypropylene body.
- Rotary engine.
The idea of a new, exclusive design gradually dissipated, and Yo-mobile began to receive some features from one popular brand, some from another. That is, with a more than leisurely pace of production, as long as at least one car is ready for production, it will become obsolete in many respects. What actually happened with the "Yo-crossover". Indeed, in large auto concerns, future car designs are planned for several years in advance. And again, ironically, literally six months later, Toyota presented a new car with the same polypropylene body that the Russian innovators had abandoned.
A similar story happened with the rotary engine. Although the engineers already had some groundwork that could be developed further, they did not bother with correcting errors and modifying something, taking the usual engine from Fiat. Meanwhile, America launched the production of rotary motors ...
This is how the innovative idea gradually slipped into an ordinary, hastily and handicraft typewriter.
A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it
Automotive experts were not surprised by the failure of the grandiose project, they were initially confident of failure. 150 million for such an ambitious plan is nothing compared to the multibillion-dollar infusions of world car monsters.
In the case of Yo-mobile, complete laymen in, frankly, a technically backward country, wanted to embody a brilliant idea from scratch.
Both the internal combustion engine should be supplemented with an electric motor, and the piston engines should be replaced with cheaper rotary vane engines, and the lightweight, anti-corrosion body should be filled with the most intelligent technology. That is, to do everything that the world's best minds have been struggling with for decades, in a couple of years. The rotary vane engine alone is something of science fiction. It is almost impossible to design pistons in such a way as to make them rotate. Although the engineers of Prokhorov's company even created a beautiful 3-D picture of such an engine, which they calmed down on.
It's not just the engine or the electronics. The fact is that no peak can be conquered with a swoop. All major automotive concerns have their own research laboratories, research centers, test sites. And what did the founders of "Yo-auto" expect? Where were you going to refine the chassis, on which training grounds or training tracks? Where to do aerodynamic blowing that can't be trusted solely to computers. Nikolay Fomenko has already made such a mistake with Marussia Motors, which he was bitterly convinced of at Formula 1.
Hypothetically, a fairy tale with a rich prince who made poor engineers rich and created a miraculous miracle may well become reality. After all, Elon Musk succeeded with his "Tesla", which is in enormous demand at a far from low price. Russia has always been famous for its brilliant minds and hardworking people, but sheer enthusiasm will not go far. The prince must constantly, annually, and invest in his brainchild many more millions towards the entry fee in order to get the perfect product.
Unfortunately, many Russian businessmen are accustomed to making money quickly, they hate such concepts as "long-term investments".
To invest one million in the construction of real estate, and after a couple of years to sell it for three - this is within their grasp. And to donate billions to a new, undeveloped industry and hope that at least 20 years later they will pay off, this is not about Russian oligarchs.
But still there are positive aspects from a scam or a dream called "Yo-mobile". The crisis of 2008 was very difficult for the citizens of Russia, and Prokhorov's project instilled in them an almost childish belief that our country can still do something, that we will become great again. Just one idea made people believe in the domestic auto industry and go to showrooms for new cars.
Statistics say that after the announcement of the creation of a hybrid car, sales of Russian cars increased from 1.7 million in 2009 to 2.3 million in 2010. By the way, the wide advertising of “Marusya”, which also loudly announced the revival of our car industry from the ashes, played into the hands of Yo-Mobile.
Whether Mikhail Prokhorov won something from this sensational story or lost, he gave the Russian people hope for a bright technological future of our country for several years.
Zhirinovsky - about the breakdown of his "Yo-mobile", look:
A new Russian automotive brand created under the patronage and with the participation of a major Russian businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, who created the City Automobile company. It is focused on the mass production of cheap domestic hybrid passenger cars of domestic design.
Why is the Yo-mobile called that way?
The Internet competition for the best name for the "people's car" failed: the global web met the idea sarcastically, the final version of the name was born within the project itself. The name of the author of the phrase "Yo-mobile" is unknown, it is only known that one of the 5 best (out of only a hundred sent) options was "Az".
Why are Yo-mobiles called "Prokhorov's cars"?
Largely because the Yo-Auto company belongs to the Onexim group, which is actually owned by Mikhail Prokhorov. But only 49%, and the remaining 51% of the shares are in the hands of the St. Petersburg company Yarovit-Motors.
Will AvtoVAZ get a powerful competitor in the form of a Yo-mobile?
Theoretically yes. The number of small cars assembled by the JV "Yo-Auto" (with optimal demand) may exceed the production volume of AVTOVAZ by one and a half times. It is able to reach about 800 thousand copies of cars annually. And according to the manufacturers, the cost of a "city car" will be 350-450 thousand rubles, which is quite comparable with the price tag (295,000 - 348,000 rubles) and (262,000 - 339,000 rubles).
Where will Yo-mobiles be produced and when will they appear on the streets?
According to the project managers, the construction of a plant near Saratov for the production of these machines will begin in 2011, assembly - in 2012; then Yo-mobiles will start to roll off the assembly line. By the way, many factories are planned: according to the initial project, one assembly plant will produce no more than 10 thousand E-machines per year. Therefore, in every city where Yo-cars will be in demand, it is possible to create their own Yo-factory.
What cars from the E-line will start to be produced first of all?
The first to go to the conveyor will be the yo-microvan, yo-cross-coupe and yo-van (a compact "truck" designed for 500 kg of cargo). At the exhibition, where there was an official presentation of the entire E-line, the basis of all models was also presented - a platform with an engine, generator, gearbox and two gas cylinders. Therefore, the running characteristics of all three "yo-shek" were almost the same.
Something vaguely familiar to us remind Yo-cars ...
The name alone is enough to understand that "Yo-cross-coupe" looks like a scaled-down one (). Although, there is something from - do not laugh, please -. True, the silhouette of the body and the shape of the body panels are the only similarities between Bavarian, British and Russian cars. The city car yo-microvan resembles () in its forms. As for the yo-truck, it seems to be the only one. At least until a cargo body is welded to the new one ...
What engines will be installed on Yo-mobiles?
- Yo-mobiles will receive hybrid engines, consisting of 60-horsepower electric motors, lithium-ion batteries and a 0.6-liter gasoline engine capable of running on liquefied natural gas. True, the maximum of their speed capabilities will be limited at around 120 km / h; more, according to the developers, is not necessary for a city car.
What is the efficiency and range of Yo-mobiles?
Again, according to the assurances of the designers, the Yo-van will consume 4 liters per 100 km, while the passenger versions of the Yo-mobile will consume only 3.5 liters of fuel per “hundred”. There is not enough fuel in a full tank to travel from St. Petersburg to Moscow. The creators of the project say about 400 kilometers from one tank without refueling. There are two of them, tanks, for the Yo-mobile: for gasoline and for natural gas, respectively. And all Yo-mobiles are planned to be all-wheel drive.
What other hybrids are there in Russia, and will “ours” compete with them?
There are hybrids, but mostly, these are very expensive cars, extremely far from the people. For example, Lexus LS600h L costing from 5,836,000 rubles or 4,990,000 rubles. But there is also a more affordable Toyota Prius (), costing from 1 103 000 rubles, and soon there will be a compact hybrid Honda CR-Z. For about the same amount.
Can Yo-mobiles accelerate?
The question is philosophical. The power of ё-engines will be only 60 "horses", and the difference in acceleration of cars depends on their weight. The cross-coupe turned out to be the fastest: 8 seconds to “hundreds”. Microvan is a little slower - 10 seconds. The van accelerates in 15 seconds - mainly due to the greater mass than the co-platform ones.
E-cars will be compact and cheap. Does this mean that you won't have to expect anything good from the equipment?
Not at all necessary. The cabin is spacious enough, and even the tall (204 cm) Mikhail Prokhorov could easily fit behind the wheel. Special feature: there is no floor tunnel in the machines. An additional stiffener is simply not needed here. As for interesting and useful options, the list of equipment will include a multifunctional steering wheel, LCD speedometer display, power windows, 16-17 inch wheels, active safety systems (ABS and ESR), cruise control, GPS / GLONASS navigation system, and 4G Internet Yota.
The main thing. How serious is the "Yo" project?
As Mikhail Zhvanetsky would say: “Well! Finally! Come to the most important thing!
Indeed, the feeling of frivolity of what is happening still does not leave: the presentation of multi-colored cars in the absence of a base where the cars will be assembled, a pretentious presentation on Tverskaya, ambitions that do not combine with experience. ... In the shortest possible time, a beautiful idea, but not supported by PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES, received financial support, claiming the title of "national automobile". Yes, many brands started outrageously, and many millions were spent on piece ideas. But no one has yet launched mass production like that.
However, the recent history of the Russian car industry is not rich in victories. And maybe just a bit of adventurism was not enough for everyone to break through "a la Prokhorov" ?!
