It’s not a great time to be Russian. While the country’s economy wasn’t hit as badly by their war as the Western countries sanctioning it may have hoped, that doesn’t mean that the average Ruski has it easy.


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If you’re Russian, you’ve got to use a VPN to access Instagram, answer endless questions at every airport you go to and pretend that your Vkusno i tochka burger is just as good as the McDonald’s one it was designed to replace. Hey, still beats being bombed!


Anyway, as a result of these sanctions, and in a general attempt to become more self-reliant, Russia has decided to make more products locally. For example, after innovating in the car world with the nearly indestructible Lada Niva (power steering optional!), Russia has decided to overthrow Tesla with its own take on the electric car. Now, let’s just take a look at this baby:


Russia. The "Amber" car is allegedly assembled entirely from Russian components. Its serial production is planned for 2025.
byu/iLatvian ineurope


Oh my god, what is that?


Listen, we talk a lot about stupid looking cars here. We all know how I feel about the Cybertruck. But the Cybertruck, for all its stupidity, knew what elements it needed to keep from a typical car to appear, at least relatively, normal. The “Amber,” in contrast, seems to have been designed by someone using The Pale Man from Pan’s Labyrinth as their inspiration.



I bet you’re curious about the car’s stats, huh? Maybe this utterly ridiculous design could be ignored if the car was great.


Well, if you wanted to know anything about the car beyond its look, too bad. We have no idea how big the battery is, how long the range is or even if the parts will really be manufactured in Russia as they claim, as previous attempts to make Russian tech products in the Motherland have ended with them being made in Singapore and China instead.


What we *do* know is that the car will likely be produced in the “Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad, known for producing cars from BMW, Ford, KIA and Hyundai,” writes The New Voice of Ukraine. They used to make KIAs? That’s all I need to hear — sign me up!



News group Lentach also claims that the final design will vary from the prototype, and that the car will be mass-produced in 2025. I just hope they keep the random hole in the side of the car — where else am I supposed to store all of my delicious kholodets?