Yesterday’s spy photos of the car, which sources called Apple Car prototype, made of experts of history of the domestic auto industry to remember about the innovative car, which appeared half a century ago.
A car called VNIITE-FRI, according to Auto Vesti, and was not included in the series. It was developed in Moscow in the mid sixties and was an attempt to build a specialized car to work in taxi service. The machine was initially to take into account the specificity of taxi transport, and to adapt it the structure of a conventional serial machine. In the name of the machine encrypted the essence of the project (PT – perspective taxi) and the name of the institution, engaged in the development (all-Union scientific research Institute of technical aesthetics).
Published on Friday pictures Car Apple sources say about the authenticity of the images. However, insiders did not specify exactly where and under what circumstances the photos were taken. Although the appearance of the vehicle that the journalists give for the car Apple has sparked the interest of the public – from the point of view of design, the car is noticeably different from the usual models. Question about the similarities between Soviet and American prototypes, of course, was raised in jest – but please note the similarity between the form factor and colors.
The distinctive features of VNIITE-FRI were the layout (the engine from the car “Moskvich” in the rear), practicality (wide sliding door, flat floor in the cabin) and a good balance of capacity and compactness. Space for foot passengers in the car experienced been significantly more than in serial machines, then used as a taxi.
The car was built in a single copy and electronically tested on the streets of Moscow, after which a question was raised about the construction of an experimental batch of VNIITE-FRI. However, due to a number of organizational and operational reasons the case didn’t come to that – besides, the idea of creating cars specifically for taxi and did not become widely used.
Published today the first pictures of the car, which is testing a prototype electric car Apple has reminded indifferent to the domestic auto industry to the forgotten people of the Soviet project. And inspired creators of “Apple cart” of the Soviet perspective of the taxi in reality, you can ask the representatives of the IT company for the premiere production vehicles, scheduled for 2020.
