E-Go Revolt: From Russia With Love

By Feann Torr - 23/October/2008

Moscow, Russia — Russia is probably best known for building the Lada Niva, a small 4WD vehicle with a dated design and a reputation for dodgy electrics.

But as the Russian economy grows - it is now Europe's largest new car market, recently overtaking Germany - so does the demand for less utilitarian automobiles.

E-Go is a Russian car company that builds limited edition sports cars, like this new model, the Revolt.

The market for exotic cars is growing very rapidly in Russia as the middle and upper classes gain more wealth, and the E-Go hopes to corner the patriots by building this limited production home-grown sports car.

As the photos show, the E-Go Revolt has a fairly masculine design with Nissan GT-R influences at the front and Maserati styling cues at the rear.

For mine, the silhouette is impressive - the epitome of a front-engined sports car - and the long bonnet is one of the best design features with its parallel vents and various character lines.

It won't win any design awards, yet the Revolt is not a completely unattractive vehicle and bodes well for the burgeoning niche car market in Russia.

The front-engined sports car is being touted as a potential rival for other European exotics, and with 410kW (550hp) of power perched over the front axle it has the potential to bloody the noses of some Italian and German sports cars.

Power comes from a 3.0-litre V6 engine (most likely a Japanese mill) that features twin turbochargers to increase torque and power to tyre-shredding levels.

The turbocharged V6 engine puts power down to the rear-wheels via a 6-speed manual gearbox, and the car is believed to be based on a Mitsubishi platform.

The body work is bespoke, features carbon fibre accents and is made in house by E-Go. 

Running gear includes adjustable pneumatic suspension and large 19-inch alloy wheels fitted with 245/40s at the front and super wide 325/30s at the rear.

No word on what kind of disc brakes or calipers the car has, but from the looks they're very large and fill out the 19-inch rims rather nicely, hinting that deceleration would be above average.

This Russian sports car also gets a razzle-dazzle interior, boasting touch-screens to navigate the cars various systems.

The steering wheel also has various controls, similar to Ferrari's manettino switch, where drivers can alter the cars various suspension, throttle response and traction control settings.

Everything about the Russian designed and built E-Go Revolt sounds positive, and it's an ambitious project.

But things like build quality and reliability will need to be addressed before the car maker begins attracting the attentions of long time Porsche and Mercedes sports car buyers.

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Another sign of the Russian car industry's bullishness is Renault's recent acquisition of a significant 25% stake in AutoVAZ, the Russian company that owns Lada and builds the Niva 4WD.

This is an interesting move by Renault, which will probably look at buying a controlling stake in the company if it likes what it sees, to completely revitalise the company over the next decade, much like Volkswagen did with Czech car maker Skoda.

AutoVAZ now has access to Renault budget brand platforms and engines from Dacia, which will give Lada increased scope to offer higher quality vehicles in both its domestic Russian market and globally if it can sign export deals.