During the development of the Aurus, owners of Bentley, Rolls-Royce and Maybach cars found the first Aurus prototype to be outdated, and the car was subsequently redesigned. About this in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda said Chief designer of Aurus Yuri Chernenko.
“60-70 people came with their vehicles and the parking lot turned into a VIP vehicle exhibition. People approached this very responsibly and understood the importance of the task. And I must say, they told us some not-so-nice things. The main criticism is that it looks old-fashioned. We revised the design and held new shows in the same auditorium next summer,” Chernenko said about a special event where luxury car owners evaluated prototypes of the future Aurus.
According to him, a year later, the “Prototype B” of the future car received the approval of more than 80% of the target audience, and the appearance of the current Aurus is a modified appearance.
“There were many options. There was competition even within the institute. One of the main requirements was that the brand be completely new. Speaking about the process of choosing a name for a family of Russian luxury cars, Chernenko noted that no “Russo-Balts” or “ZIL” were considered. He said the name Aurus was chosen from 10 options.
Previously AvtoVAZ named Chinese competitors Lada Vesta.