Column: the Russian petrolhead

Column: the Russian petrolhead

Everybody has a certain image about some countries. In Moscow, people from Holland are sometimes named ‘Orange people’. A funny word for the people from the home country of Autogespot, but this column is about the Russians, or about the Russian petrolhead, to be precise. The story starts in 2007, when the first exclusive spots from Moscow are uploaded on Autogespot. The last five year, Moscow is put on the map as a great city for spotting but also as a city where tuning, power and exclusivity are bigger than ever. But what makes someone a real Russian petrolhead? In December last year, we talked with one of the many young Muscovites who can be described as one of the many young petrolheads of the new Russian generation. It definitely was a very interesting encounter.

Inside Europe, we of Autogespot know a lot of cities and countries. But Russia, and especially Moscow, was an unknown city for us, until last year. Far away from the popular European destinations like Monaco, London or Munich. Moscow is the trade center of Russia. Last year, tuner TopCar invited us to meet the company, but especially the crazy city of Moscow, which you can’t compare with any other European city. A world-city full of excesses. You can hardly describe this city with a pen. Especially the severe winter makes the city looks beautiful in the winter and this makes it a lovely destination and otherwise a chill city. Life here is completely different, there’s a big difference between the rich and poor. There’s another difference under the rich between the powerful and the silent. Big S-classes and 7-series can pass everyone thanks to their sirens and the big SUV’s push others off the road without any problems. The world here in Moscow has dozens of contrasts and you can see this at the cars, here in Moscow.

Column: the Russian petrolhead

Since the fall of the communism, Moscow has a big growth of millionaires and billionaires. Numbers say that there are more than ten thousand millionaires and maybe even more. You can see this on the streets because of all the exclusive cars. In the winter, you’ll mostly find SUV’s and limousines but in the summer, all supercars come outsaide and you’ll see a lot of Ferrari’s and Lamborghini’s when you walk through the city. Even exclusivity has its boundaries, even in Moscow. Companies like TopCar and the dealership König Motor Club grow because of all the millionaires in Moscow. People love to spend their money. You see al lot of fur coats, Hublot watches and Hermès purses. You can clearly see all the wealth on the streets. Most of the people driving in premium cars are 50 years or younger. The number of young millionaires is gigantic. You have to be distinctive in this world and this is especially important in the world of cars. But what is a real Russian ‘petrolhead’?

Column: the Russian petrolhead

Petrolhead is a world-famous word and everybody knows what it means. But there are differences between petrolheads in different countries. In Germany, you can find all petrolheads near the Nürburgring. The best destination to experience the car scene in Germany. In France, the petrolheads cruise over the boulevards with Ferrari’s and Lamborgini’s. It’s important to be seen. In England, you can find a lot of different petrolheads. From 500 bhp strong Caterhams to a car collection worth 20 million Pounds. Until now, we couldn’t get a clear image of the Russian petrolhead but in Moscow we found the answer.

In anticipation of our visit to Moscow, we made a list of some questions we wanted answered. Why are there so much tuned cars? Why do the Russians want so much power in their cars? What are the demands for an exclusive car? It are some simple questions of which you should say that they’re quite easy to answer. But it’s not that easy in Russia. That’s what we heard at our visit to the König Motor Club but especially the Thursday night of our visit was very interesting. Thanks to our friend Misha we were invited to visit his good friend Alexey. We went there to ask him some questions about, and take a look at, his car collection. His collection consists a BMW X6 M with 730 bhp, a new Mercedes-Benz CL 65 AMG and a Ferrari California. Young and wealthy Muscovites don’t live outside the city but they live in the city centre in a modern apartment with all the luxury there is. He lives with a beautiful view over the city, crocodile leather seats and a unique furnishing.

Alexey is only one of the many Russians with a passion for quality and extravagance. Car fanatics from Russia want to have the best of the best and even more. There are two different groups, the performance freaks who only want more and more power and then there’s another group which wants to make their standard car as good as possible. Alexey’s favorite cars are the California and his Audi TT-RS. He is someone who wants to enjoy has cars and he’s not only looking for the maximum amount of power. His CL 65 AMG is standing outside underneath a layer of snow because this car isn’t very interesting, the Ferrari was dirty because he uses it in every weather condition and the TT-RS was at the dealership where it was prepared for next season. Another important point in this country is the fact that you have to ask yourself: what is exclusive? The term exclusive has a completely different meaning because of all the expensive cars you see in the streets of Moscow.

Column: the Russian petrolhead
Column: the Russian petrolheadColumn: the Russian petrolheadColumn: the Russian petrolhead

What became clear during our visit to the König Motor Club and Alexey is the diversity you can find in Russia. The ‘carpe diem’ idea is very big here and it creates a very special habitat which makes the country very interesting. At the König Motor Club we got some obvious answers but the conversation with Alexey was very interesting and refreshing. This because we were in a familiar environment for Alexey and we saw his way of living and why he’s a nowadays Russian petrolhead. But is this really what he is? We asked our friend and translator Misha Charoudin about his vision.

A Russian petrolhead? That’s maybe an impossible question, because you can never agree about the specifications of a ‘normal’ petrolhead so a Russian petrolhead is definitely impossible. In my opinion, a petrol- or gearhead isn’t a solid term, but something like a syndrome. That means that you are a petrolhead when you meet certain features. But these features aren’t always the same and the Russian features are even more different. Next to the comparison from the medicine world we can also refer to religion: there are several currents but eventually they’re all the same. Race, drift, drag, jdm, usdm, eudm, low, stance, luxury, exotics, built/bought and there are many more. Within every current you even have several other currents. Probably we’re focusing on the wrong question. Better is to wonder what’s the difference between the Russian (actually Moscow) automotive scene and the European scene.

It’s mentioned in earlier articles: Moscow is the city of extremes. Add the big freedom in certain occasions against the European occasions and you’ll see the difference. In Moscow, it isn’t strange to see a wasted Lada which keeps driving because the owner is working on the car every week. This same Lada is overtaken by a drifting Nissan S15 which has to step on his brakes for a passing Mansory Rolls-Royce. It are all extremes, but it isn’t strange to see them all in once. It’s something I experience every week, maybe even daily, while I haven’t seen anything like this in the Netherlands ever before. And that while I’ve lived in both countries for ten years. Returning on the aspect of more ‘freedom’ I want to end my argument.

Moscow has two freedoms which make the Russian automotive world completely different than the Dutch one. At first, the economic freedom. Everything and everybody is for sale in Russia, for the last of two, you only need to know the price divided by the number of shots of Vodka. Russia has a fixated income tax system of 13 percent, whether you earn 1000 Euros a month or a million a day. In short, you can earn your money very easy but you lose it just as fast. Research shows that the ‘made man’ spends almost 80 percent of his capital on the support and expression of his status, and what better way to do this than with an expensive car? Second, there’s the social freedom. And no, you must not intervene with politics or become a human rights activist when you want to be happy, or at least, stay alive in Moscow. But on automotive terrain you have a lot more freedom. Nobody will talk behind your back saying you’re a drugs dealer or something like that, just because your drive an expensive car. You don’t have to be afraid that people will damage your car because they’re jealous. They can still break your window and steal your radio but theft on economical grounds is something else than damaging a car because of someone’s social opinion. There are several other influences and reasons but I will safe them for the Autogespot Moscow 2013 special, until then everybody’s welcome to experience Moscow for themselves.

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