Putin's “domestic” Aurus car project frozen due to lack of funds in the Russian state budget

The Russian government will halt its Aurus project, which was launched in 2013 as part of an effort to create a unified modular platform (UMP) for the country’s automotive industry. As Interfax reported on Feb. 11, Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said in the State Duma that there is no money for the initiative.

“In the federal project for motor transport, given budget constraints, we have been forced for now to abandon the capital-intensive project to develop a unified modular platform. Without state support, our manufacturers cannot shoulder costs that only global auto giants can afford. So we are focusing on localizing critical components, including for electric and hybrid cars.”

At the end of 2024, Alikhanov’s ministry had planned to allocate 160 billion rubles ($2.1 billion) to the project over five years. Automotive industry department head Tigran Parsadanian described the goals, saying, “Traditionally, in the B and B+ segments we have a manufacturer with a large range of offerings that is localized: AvtoVAZ. So we proposed putting the emphasis on classes C, D, and E, which we do not currently have… Our traditional manufacturers will be brought in — first and foremost AvtoVAZ, GAZ, KAMAZ, and those partners willing to take part. Funding will cover development and, later on, industrial production as well.”

The federal budget for 2025–2027, adopted in 2024, earmarked more than 80 billion rubles for the project. However, the draft budget for 2026–2028 contains no mention of the unified modular platform, Interfax notes.

A Cortege for top officials

As stated on the project’s website, the plan was to create “a modular platform for Russian luxury cars developed by NAMI, the leading scientific and engineering center of Russia’s transport industry. Based on the UMP, NAMI created a line of cars under the Aurus brand.” The project, previously known as Cortege, was intended to enable the creation of cars for transporting and escorting the country’s top officials and other people under state protection.

The first car from the Aurus project — the Senat limousine — was unveiled on May 7, 2018 as part of Vladimir Putin’s fourth presidential inauguration ceremony, and since then Russian media have periodically carried reports noting that the Russian leader uses an Aurus car. In July of last year, Pavel Zarubin, a correspondent for the Rossiya television channel, posted a video showing the car’s interior.

In November, Vedomosti reported that Gazprom Tech had purchased a controlling stake (51 percent) in Aurus in the summer of 2025. According to the newspaper’s sources, Gazprom Tech acquired a 36 percent stake previously owned by the Arab fund Tawazun, as well as part of the stake held by the state scientific center FSUE NAMI. The current list of Aurus shareholders is not publicly disclosed.

Imported parts for Russian cars

The NAMI website states that engines for cars built on the unified platform were developed and manufactured in Russia, and that “the UMP received original components and assemblies developed at NAMI and at partner production facilities in Russia… Mass production of components for the UMP has been set up across the country.”

However, customs data reviewed by The Insider show that some parts for Aurus cars were supplied from abroad. Between January and March 2025, six batches of components for assembling engines intended for Aurus Senat vehicles (engine type 4123) passed through the Sheremetyevo customs post. Imported items included filtration devices, flywheels, pulleys, clutches, and gas analyzers made by German companies.

According to customs records, the sender was the Turkish company Yeni Ufuklar Makina Kimya Dis Tic. Ltd. Sti., and the recipient was the Russian firm VRS Digital LLC.