Putin test-drives new Lada Aura car: 'Beautiful! Very beautiful!'

Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a Lada Aura car along the M-11 highway and shared his impressions of the ride.

"It's a good car,” the Russian leader told reporters.

Putin used the new Russian car for officials to arrive for the opening ceremony of the last section of the M-11 Neva highway in the Tver region on Tuesday, July 16.

The head of state personally sat behind the wheel of the vehicle. He buckled up before driving. Deputy head of the production department of the 3rd stage of the M-11 highway construction, Vasily Vasiliev, was sitting next to Putin. Along the way, Vasiliev told the president how the construction of the road was completed a year earlier than planned.

"Beautiful! Very beautiful!" Putin said with appreciation.

During the opening ceremony of the highway section, the president said that travel time between Moscow and St. Petersburg would now be reduced by almost an hour.

The new section has become the last element for the launch of high-speed traffic from St. Petersburg to Kazan on the highway 1,520 kilometers long.

Lada Aura not going to be president's car 

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the president liked the Lada Aura vehicle. However, this is not going to be a personal car of the head of state. According to the Kremlin representative, it was event organisers that provided the car to Putin.

The serial production of the car will begin this fall. The car is based on the Lada Vesta model. It features the 1.8-liter 122 horsepower engine and an automatic transmission. The car was unveiled for the first time last year in June. The cost of the car was then estimated at approximately 2 million rubles.

Putin voiced the idea for ​​Russian officials to switch from foreign to domestic vehicles soon after foreign automotive brands started leaving the Russian market against the background of hostilities in Ukraine. The list of car brands recommended for government employees included Lada, UAZ, Aurus, Moskvich and Haval.