KYRGYZSTAN: Kyrgyzstan creates its own Lamborghini made of scrap metal

Record ID: 217305

  • Title: KYRGYZSTAN: Kyrgyzstan creates its own Lamborghini made of scrap metal
  • Date: 26th July 2013
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CAR IN WAREHOUSE WAREHOUSE EXTERIOR
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: Arts,Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVAECUN3JFZBD7E6B7L7293OWNWD
  • Story Text: A group of Central Asian designers have come up with a plan for the first so-called Kyrgyz Lamborghini.
    Kyrgyzstan is an impoverished mainly Muslim nation with a population of 5.5 million - its per capita GDP is just a tenth of that in oil-rich neighbour Kazakhstan.
    The Central Asian republic, which is land-locked and borders Kazakhstan, China, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, has no local car production, and imports all of its vehicles.
    Many in the mountainous country still prefer to travel by horseback, with the majority of car owners living in the capital city, Bishkek.
    The designers at Kyrgyz studio 'New Format', however, remain convinced that their Kyrgyz Lamborghini is a worthwhile investment.
    "We have spent three months to assemble this car. The 1982 Volvo's platform serves as a basis that we have cut, or shortened, or extended and welded on in some places. We took wheels from BMW X5, the full-range hub cap. The car that we've assembled is of the same size as the original one. We used plastic, carbon steel, acrylic glass, there're also parts from other cars," art director of design studio 'New Format' Meder Koilubaev told Reuters Koilubaev said that he doesn`t have any specialized knowledge in car manufacturing, and he found Lamborghini design drafts online and then developed his own design using some random car parts. He hopes that in the future he will be able to produce a proper concept car with Kyrgyz flare.
    "We wanted to see what we are capable of, we wanted to see if we can prove not only to somebody else but to ourselves that we can incarnate complex architectural forms. In the future we plan to create a concept car that will be based not on the already existing ideas but will be fully designed by us. We want to have a proper Kyrgyz design and maybe give it some Kyrgyz colour, so that we will have a car fully produced by us," Koilubaev added.
    Foreign car brands favoured among vehicle owners in Kyrgyzstan include Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW, Volkswagen, Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, and some Russian brands.
    The majority of cars owned in Kyrgyzstan, however, are Soviet-made models.
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