The official account of the U.S. Republican Party on social network X featured a photo of Donald Trump against the backdrop of a car, under which it was written: "A big, beautiful bill will help bring back the great American car." However, social media users quickly found out that the car in the picture is not an example of the American automotive industry at all, but the Soviet VAZ-2101, better known as Zhiguli or Lada 1200.
An automatic note appeared under the post, added by the X platform based on user comments: "The photo shows a VAZ-2101 - a Soviet-made car."
Auto expert Artem Bobtsov noted in an interview with RBC that the photo could indeed be either a VAZ-2101 or a Fiat 124, the Italian car on the basis of which the Zhiguli could have been created. Nevertheless, none of these cars has anything to do with the American auto industry, which caused a wave of jokes and ironic comments. Users spoke of an "unexpected turn in the rapprochement between the USA and Russia" and the "great return of the kopeck."
The editor-in-chief of the magazine "Za Rulem", Maxim Kadakov, suggested that the designers of the U.S. Republican Party used a stock photo from the Internet to avoid legal conflicts with automakers. According to him, the car depicted is probably from the Hungarian market and "chosen for the image, no matter what."
Read materials on the topic:
With Italian details: VAZ-2101 1970 model appeared for sale in the Samara region
A kopeck for kopecks: a 1975 VAZ-2101 with a mileage of only 7 kilometers is being sold in Latvia