Aurus Motors (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: ''Аурус Моторс'') is a Russian

luxury car A luxury car is a passenger automobile providing superior comfort levels, features, and equipment. More expensive materials and surface finishes are used, and buyers expect a correspondingly high quality (business), build quality. The term is ...

company founded in 2018, originally strictly as a Russian

motorcade A motorcade, or autocade, is a procession of motor vehicles. Uses can include ceremonial processions for funerals or demonstrations, but can also be used to provide security while transporting a very important person. The American presidenti ...

vehicle brand until 2021 when the company's first civilian model, the

Aurus Senat The Aurus Senat () is a luxury full-size car by Russian automaker Aurus Motors and developed by NAMI in Moscow, Russia. It is the presidential state car of Russia. The Aurus Senat was retro-styled after the ZIS-110, a Soviet limousine introdu ...

, began production in May. The automaker claims to have sold 115 cars in 2023. Facelifts are planned for 2026 and 2030. President Putin had a facelifted Aurus in 2024.

Name

According to the company, ''Aurus'' is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of '' aura'' or ''aurum'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for 'gold') and ''

Rus Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

''.

History

In 2013, NAMI began development on a new Russian presidential state car to replace the then-current Mercedes-Benz S 600 Pullman Guard. In 2018, the new Russian presidential state car and motorcade vehicles were introduced under the Aurus Kortezh (Russian for ''cortege'' or ''motorcade'') line of vehicles. This includes the Senat sedan and

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment which can be operated mechanically by hand or by a button electronically. A luxu ...

, Arsenal

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or ...

, and Komendant

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definition ...

. The three vehicles are named after

Kremlin The Moscow Kremlin (also the Kremlin) is a fortified complex in Moscow, Russia. Located in the centre of the country's capital city, the Moscow Kremlin (fortification), Kremlin comprises five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Mosco ...

towers. On 19 February 2019, the Russia Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

-based company Tawazun Holding would invest in a 36% stake of Aurus Motors for

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

124 million within the next three years and would distribute Aurus cars in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

Aurus 01 - Gibson - G-Drive Racing - 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans

At the 2019

Geneva International Motor Show The Geneva International Motor Show was an annual auto show held in March in the Swiss city of Geneva. The show was hosted at the Palexpo, a convention centre located next to the Geneva Cointrin International Airport. The Salon was organised by ...

in March, Aurus exhibited the Senat and Senat Limousine, previewing future sale of the models. At the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans from 15 to 16 June,

G-Drive Racing G-Drive Racing is a Russian sports car racing team. It is named after the commercial fuel distributed by Gazprom Neft, a subsidiary of oil giant Gazprom. They made their debut in the LMP2 class of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship in a p ...

partnered with Aurus and raced an

Oreca 07 The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayt ...

rebadged as the Aurus 01. The team finished 11th place in the race with 364 laps. In May 2021,

Sollers JSC Sollers, formerly known as OAO Severstal-Auto, is a Russian company holding controlling blocks of shares of OAO Ulyanovsk Automobile Works (UAZ), Zavolzhye Motor Works (ZMZ) and OAO ZMA. The enterprises of Severstal-Auto are well-known automob ...

began civilian-use production of the Senat motorcade car at the

Yelabuga Yelabuga (also spelled ''Elabuga''; ; ) is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Kama River and east from Kazan. Population: The evolution of name The name of the city of Yelabuga comes from the T ...

Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...

Ford Sollers Ford Sollers was a joint venture between the American car manufacturer Ford and the Russian Sollers established in 2011, and dissolved in 2022. Ford Sollers was responsible for the production, import, and distribution of all Ford brand products ...

plant, where the Russian-spec

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a panel van, cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford ...

is produced. The base model started at ~18 million

ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...

s (US$243k), while the launch edition model was priced at ~22 million rubles (US$297k).

Models

Kortezh series

The Aurus Kortezh line is developed by NAMI and manufactured by Sollers.

Civilian models

* Senat (2021–present), a

full-size Full-size car—also known as large car—is a vehicle size class which originated in the United States and is used for cars larger than mid-size cars. It is the largest size class for cars. In the United Kingdom, this class is referred to as ...

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, a tax on products not considered essential, such as speedboats or diamonds. **Luxury tax (sports), a ...

sedan * Senat Limousine (2021–present), an armored

based on the Senat sedan

Motorcade vehicles

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

- a luxury

passenger van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or p ...

(Аурус Арсенал) * Senat - a full-size luxury sedan (Аурус Сенат) ** Senat Convertible - a luxury

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...

(Аурус Сенат Кабриолет) ** Senat Limousine - an armored limousine based on the Senat sedan and the official Russian president state car (Аурус Сенат Лимузин) * Komendant (released in November 2022), a luxury

(Комендант)

Upcoming models

Merlon A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The sp ...

(to be released in 2023), an

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

(Мерлон) * Zero emissions Aurus, a

hydrogen vehicle A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen to move. Hydrogen vehicles include some road vehicles, rail vehicles, space rockets, forklifts, ships and aircraft. Motive power is generated by converting the chemical energy of hydrogen to me ...

prototype

Motorsport vehicles

* 01, a rebadged version of the

Le Mans Prototype A Le Mans Prototype (LMP) is a type of sports prototype race car used in various races and championships, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, FIA World Endurance Championship, IMSA SportsCar Championship, European Le Mans Series, and Asian Le M ...

racing car, released in 2019 and eligible for the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans () is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the city of Le Mans, France. It is widely considered to be one of the world's most prestigious races, and is one of the races—along with ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers Car manufacturers of Russia Russian brands Car brands Aurus Motors