You may have seen news about this Tesla Cybertruck copycat vehicle driving around the streets of Moscow. Turns out it is based on a Lada 2109 hatchback, and it was built as a 24-hour build challenge by a “Cannon Garage” team on a 30,000 ruble budget. What?!
Donor Car
The Lada 2109 generation of car was available for sale largely unchanged between 1987-2005. The latest iteration of the hatchback was called 21093-20. It is powered by a 1.5-liter gas engine with a factory rating of 78 horsepower. It’s a front wheel drive car.
The guys at Cannon Garage purchased the car on a quick timeline and during the night. However, the build video says that the engine starts right away and the floor-pan of the car is relatively solid.
The car itself was purchased for approximately 50,000 rubles or $800 USD at current exchange rate.
The Budget
The project budget was set at 30,000 rubles or approximately $485 USD at the current exchange rate.
The Build
A team of three builders spent the first hour discussing the project, and the team came to a conclusion that Russian Cybertruck needs to proportionally correct (although on a smaller scale) when compared to the original Cybertruck prototype that was unveiled in California by Elon Musk.
The team decided to remove the Lada’s roof and most of the front clip, and build up the rest of the body with steel and plexiglass. The guys decided to also give the car a small suspension lift and Tesla symbol hubcaps.
The only way in or out of this Russian Cybertruck “trucklet” is via the rear hatch opening.
In the end, the project was complete within 8 days and it reportedly stayed on budget.
The video below shows the entire project, but it is in Russian.
