What is the point of Vladimir Putin's new dictator wagon?

[StrumSolo]

So the Russians have gone to the trouble of 'designing' a bespoke runaround for their man.  

Not that you'd know, on account of it looking for all the world like a heavily-armoured Rolls Royce.



Why not just get him a Rolls Royce?

Or if the name of this particular game is to demonstrate Russia's manufacturing prowess and might, then they could at least have had a bit of fun with it, surely?

Was a time when your dictator wagons had a bit of personality about them, but I guess those days are gone.  Let's reminisce.

Beginning with the classic of the genre, Kim Jong-il's Mercedes-Benz 600 Landaulet.



Drop-top? Check. Stretch? Check. Enough to make you forgive the catalogue of human rights abuses, isn't it?

Suicide doors on Chairman Mao's Hongqi Red Flag FTW!



And whilst Muammar al-Gaddafi might not have cared much for the welfare of his subjects, no-one could accuse him of neglecting the planet with his custom-built electric Fiat 500.



That's how you do it, Vlad. Take heed.

[johncack]

It is all German engineering underneath. Russian cars are still in the stone age.