Car "Bear"
Stalemate situation
A difficult biography of this project. In the mid-90s, the domestic auto industry was falling apart, talking about the disappearance of Russian brands as inevitable. It was then, in 1997, that Avtoselkhozmash-Holding (created on the ruins of the Soviet Minavtoselkhozmash) developed the design of a compact, inexpensive machine.
No one doubted that the sale was provided to her. The media reported that Leningradsky Severny Zavod, Stavrovsky tractor equipment, one of the enterprises in Vladimir, Krasnodar KavKAZ-M, and even some fur factory were going to connect their future with Mishka. BelAZ allegedly acquired a license to manufacture cars. Far-reaching plans were built (with an annual output of up to 30, 000 units), and the Krasnodar plant concluded a contract with a company from the USA for the project. The Americans reportedly promised to provide resources, specialists, and even new technologies for the release of the Michael family (as they renamed it), costing from 3, 000 (basic equipment) to 5, 000 euros (1.4 liter engine, 78 hp, automatic transmission) … However turmoil in the country's economy and global crises buried all the floodlights.
Gambit Karpova
Except for one. In January 2003, Mishka-Tula-Moscow (MTM) was established, among the founders the administration of the Tula region, as well as grandmaster Anatoly Karpov. The first persons of the province changed, the attitude to the project also changed - production facilities at the Tula combine plant were either provided or refused. But Karpov remained the locomotive of the project and, together with his comrades-in-arms, brought the matter to the final stage: the machine successfully passed certification tests, it received the “Vehicle Type Approval”, and now the production is being completed.
Bear
The first Bears were ready when the 2011 snow had not yet melted. The first Bears were ready when the 2011 snow had not yet melted.
Car "Bear"
The number on the nameplate under the hood indicates: the car is a full member of the automotive family. The number on the nameplate under the hood indicates: the car is a full member of the automotive family.
Who is the baby for?
The car belongs to the category of compacts (A-class), it is the most inexpensive in the Russian market: the declared price of a basic configuration with a station wagon body is 195, 000 rubles. Its potential buyers are pensioners, rural residents, people of hobbies - fishermen, hunters. The car can be in demand in the police and health services, especially in the periphery. "Bear" may be the second car in the family.
There is also a special, social purpose of the small car: it is adapted for disabled people without limbs (see details below).
Design: simple, reliable, inexpensive
The frame is made of square pipe, low alloy steel, wall thickness - 3 mm. Thanks to this, it will retain its properties for at least 10 years. Plastic body parts are hung on the frame (sheet plastic is produced at Sibur, vacuum molding is established in Tula).
Car "Bear"
The engine and manual gearbox - Melitopol Motor Plant (they are familiar to Russians by ZAZ products). However, the design of the Bear is such that it allows you to adapt the car to power units (in the format of 1.1–1.3 liters) of foreign manufacturers, for example Volkswagen, Renault, Peugeot, Hyundai. Adaptation does not take much time: just replace the subframe under the motor.
Other components are borrowed from Oka, as well as models of VAZ, UAZ, GAZ and the same ZAZ - they are easy to buy in stores and in the auto parts markets. Repair and maintenance of equipment is possible at existing service stations.
Car "Bear"
Zambovie from domestic brands immediately noticeable in the design of the interior. Zambovie from domestic brands immediately noticeable in the design of the interior.
Options
“The car is by all accounts low-budget,” said Leonid Zagorsky, “at the same time there is enough space in the engine compartment to include optional devices that increase the level of technical equipment and comfort, such as electric power steering, ABS, air conditioning and others. We are ready at the request of customers to install a dashboard, seats, interior trim elements of better materials. For which, of course, you have to pay extra.
Salon, trunk
The car is certified in the wagon "wagon", "van", "pickup" bodies. However, as Leonid Zagorsky put it, “the claims on Lando are justified. The body cap is integral, thanks to which the station wagon is easy to transform: you unscrew the four mounting bolts - and together it is easy to remove and set aside the rear part. Here is the landau.
Car "Bear"
With a station wagon. The back door halves swing open up and down. Lower - convenient loading platform. With a station wagon. The back door halves swing open up and down. Lower - convenient loading platform.
Car "Bear". Landau
After simple manipulations, the station wagon turns into a landau. After simple manipulations, the station wagon turns into a landau.
The feeling of space in the cabin can be represented by such comparisons. The body is 12 mm wider than the Oka. For those inside, the ceiling does not press, at least for those who are up to 190 cm tall. Driving with the seat pushed back to failure is quite comfortable. The two rear passengers, if they are adults, are cramped - you have to sit sideways. Three in the back are overkill.
Car "Bear"
The back of the driver's seat is tilted, and a fairly spacious passage to the rear sofa is formed. The front passenger pushed his seat forward to create room for the companion's legs. The back of the driver's seat is tilted, and a fairly spacious passage to the rear sofa is formed. The front passenger pushed his seat forward to create room for the companion's legs.
Car "Bear"
Isn't it a family car? Isn't it a family car?
If you fold the back seat, the trunk becomes simply extensive. The official technical specification indicates that its maximum volume is 800 liters, but in fact, Leonid Zagorsky assured, it is about fifty liters more.
From the photo below, you can understand what the real capacity is. (Forgive me, dear readers, for the fact that the image format is so small - it was taken by a mobile phone’s camera. But you can see what’s on it.) The photo was sent by a tulek who purchased the Bear just a week ago and went on the next day to buy supplies for winter. In the trunk: 7 bags of potatoes (40 kg each), two bags of onions (35 kg each), a bag of beets and cabbage (25 kg each). The owner and his wife were traveling in the cabin. As the driver said, the car drove without tension.
Car "Bear"
Disabled cars
It is with lever-spring drive to the controls. There are several variants of the mechanism - for legless, with one right or left foot. The car doors are made in the likeness of those of the Oka, so the doorways are quite wide. The seat cushions are located at the same height as the wheelchair seats. Thanks to all this, the procedure for replacing a wheelchair from a wheelchair is maximally simplified for a disabled driver.
We must pay tribute to the "automobile team" Anatoly Karpov: today (and for a long time) no manufacturer in the country produces cars designed for the disabled. In Europe they are, but there are only a few, and the price of European equipment is many times higher.
Design with Franco Sbarro
"Parents" of "Bears" are aware that the appearance of the machine, a native of the last century, is rustic - and intend to improve it. For three months they transferred the car to the workshop of the famous Swiss designer Franco Sbarro, and the specialist has already expressed a number of considerations. He intends to promote appearance by taking advantage of the body's multiform, as well as make changes to its individual components. So we can expect that the little car will not look ordinary.
Car "Bear". Franco Sbarro
Now the parties are, as Leonid Zagorsky said, in a pre-contract state. And for the embodiment of the ideas of the master, the matter will not. Since the Bear’s “clothes” are plastic, “it will take about three months to make tooling,” said MTM CEO.
Patency
This characteristic of the car cannot be underestimated: the clearance is 185 mm. But the potential of the cross also increases the configuration of the bottom: it is almost flat. The protruding parts are only exhaust pipes and the parking brake drive. "Bear" showed true all-roundness during snow trials, and in mud, and when riding in the sand. It should be noted that during the sand test the wheels, even slightly bogged down, coped with the sand resistance, did not stop rotating and took out: 70 hp engine with a small weight of the car is more than enough. And in the plans of the "parents" of the car to create its all-wheel drive version.
Bitfuel option: gasoline + gas
"Bear" can be made in a bi-fuel version and run on gasoline and liquefied gas, which is half the price of gasoline. The gas cylinder (a certificate has also been received for it) will be located in the niche for the spare wheel, in the recess of the trunk. It has a toroidal shape (that is, it almost repeats the shape of the wheel), its capacity is 42 liters. Gas consumption - 7 l / 100 km. Thus, a car with two refueling fuel tanks is capable of driving about 1300 km.
Car "Bear"
Place for a spare wheel below the boot floor. In the hybrid version, a toroidal 42-liter gas fuel tank will be placed in this niche. Place for a spare wheel below the boot floor. In the hybrid version, a toroidal 42-liter gas fuel tank will be placed in this niche.
Starting the engine - always on gasoline, after it is heated to operating temperature, it automatically switches to gas. With the ignition key turned to “off”, the power system again automatically switches to gasoline supply. Gas appliances - Italian.
Reliability
This characteristic is surely of interest to every potential buyer of the Bear. Against counterfeiting, the Tulaks immediately install a barrier: they intend to acquire components only original, directly from the manufacturer.
And technology gives hope for a decent build quality: cars will be assembled not on a conveyor belt, but on slipways. A team is assigned to each slipway, products are marked with its personal brand. Should there be a complaint, it will be easy to determine the culprit from the print - a specific team, and she, according to the situation, is obliged to compensate the damage from her own fund. It is clear that such a material incentive will make you work without flaws.
About investments
Knowing about the difficult previous fate of the project, there may be concern - will it be possible to bring it to mass production? In other words, is there enough finance? Leonid Zagorsky explained:
- Right now, there is no “live” money for organizing mass production in our hands, but will soon appear. We have prepared an issue - an additional issue of the company's shares, which we will place on the stock exchange in the fourth quarter of this year. I can say that reputable investors have already firmly declared their interest in participating in the project - they also evaluated the finished machines, and were convinced of the benefit of the enterprise by examining our business plan. It assumes a net profit from the sale of each car in the amount of 20-25 thousand rubles, and we plan in a few years to reach the annual production of 20, 000 units. At the same time, I must say, we deliberately compiled a business plan according to a pessimistic scenario - based on the purchase of components at high retail rather than low wholesale prices. So in practice, the costs will be lower than calculated in the plan.
Car "Bear". Gene. Director of MTM Leonid Zagorsky
Leonid Zagorsky was engaged in the practical implementation of the project from scratch. Leonid Zagorsky was engaged in the practical implementation of the project from scratch.
“And then, investors have another reason to be confident in the success of the enterprise,” continued Leonid Germanovich. - His guarantor is Anatoly Karpov, who is known as a master to calculate the situation. So the funds will appear soon, and already in the first quarter of next year, “Bears” will go on sale.
Car loan
And more about money, but not investors, but buyers. MTM reached an agreement in principle with one of the banks that Mishki could be purchased on credit at a low interest rate. Previously called the figure of 6%. The calculation is that the monthly fee for repayment of the loan is about 3 thousand rubles. Such amounts are able to pay people with moderate incomes.
About the title
“Bear” sounds nice to a Russian citizen, but it turns out that this name is not a model, but a project. Manufacturers decided to hold a nationwide competition, in which they choose the name of a small car. Soon the competition will be announced - prepare the options.
One of the proposals, as they say, hangs in the air. Recall that the chairman of the board of directors of MTM, Anatoly Karpov, is a twelve-time world champion, international grandmaster, holder of many orders and medals (not only for achievements in chess), runs the Russian Peace Fund. In a word, one of the most prominent representatives of Russia. People from his entourage also talk about his purely human virtues … However, Anatoly Evgenievich has one drawback, from the point of view of a motorist: he does not drive a car, he does not feel the joy of driving, he never drives and pulls.
Anatoly Karpov
But do not you think that the “non-driver” Karpov in the story with the “Bear” showed another advantage that the automotive community must evaluate? After all, he undertook and for many years pulled (through crises, failures, hurting the sarcasm of observers) a difficult task, the crown of which is a product that is not personal to him personally, neither in spirit nor in needs, but needed by tens of thousands of fellow citizens.
His name will surely someday be immortalized in some classical form. But why not name him “his” car?
