Summer in Moscow: Visiting Russia's Largest Outdoor Car Expo

Hi everybody and welcome to Travelling with Russell. Welcome to a beautiful day here in Moscow. I've come to a very well-known park and I thought I'd show you an event they've got here right now. I think you might find it rather interesting. Where I want to take you today is a place called Vedenha and this is a park in the northeast of Moscow. It's incredibly famous, it's incredibly big and I think probably one of the more visited places in Moscow by people that live here, people that come to visit from other regions of Russia and I think a few tourists come here as well. This main entrance here is huge. It really doesn't give an idea of scale from the camera. Now I'm in the northeast of Moscow, very close to Vedenha metro station, really the same name as where we are and everybody pretty much comes here by metro, probably 99% of people and you make the walk from the station off in the distance. Actually you can see the monument there because there is the Space Museum as well in this area and today they actually have a display of vintage cars and vehicles and also it's a beautiful sunny day so it's a good appropriate time to come for a walk through the park at the same time. So let's go. One thing I recommend is perhaps relaxing and taking your time to watch this. I'm not sure how long it'll be, I'm not going to cover the entire park, I just want to really show you all these different vehicles that they've got on show here because it's quite interesting that it's an open-air exhibition and it's free to come and attend and walk around. The actual park itself you could spend days on end and you still wouldn't see everything walking around. I'm just going to show you a small part of it. Having just walked in I will say anytime that you come here no matter the time of year it's always very busy and it's a huge park but there is also a lot of people that come here and I will just get something out the way right off the bat and somebody commented on a previous video that I need to ask permission when I film them, particularly parents with kids. Now if I was to stop and ask every person at this exhibition are you going to be okay to be on my camera? I would be here all day so I'll do my best to only film paid actors who've signed a contract and clause and then anybody caught in the background I'm very sorry I didn't pay your royalties to be part of the video. Now WDNH, the literal translation, it's actually letters that make up the name of this place and essentially if you think of what a world expo is it's that but it's only focused around achievements of Russia, the Soviet Union and then going back to USSR and it's loosely described as the exhibition of achievements of the national economy. So a lot of what you see, particularly the buildings, are focused around that and the different achievements of the entire country and then also specific territories and former territories that have now broken away like all of the CIS countries. So let's have a look at some of these cars and vehicles. I think the other thing I need to apologize ahead of time for is my lack of knowledge of different vehicles that we'll see. However this one I do know about. Now I just noticed there is actually a sign that tells you about it. This is the Lada Azimuth and this will be the newest Lada car produced in Russia which will be released later this year. There is actually some vehicles on the road already but most of the ones that you see are just display vehicles but these are now in production and this is the latest achievement from Lada, the Azimuth, and I will do a follow-up video about this once it becomes for sale at one of the dealerships. It's really interesting they've got it front and center here of the entire exhibition and there's quite a lot of vehicles here from different eras but the Azimuth this is the latest model of Lada. What I'm going to do is just generally have a walk around and we'll take in some of the sights and really interesting the other car they've got right out the front here is an Italian car, a Lamborghini. Check it out in this pink color though that's pretty crazy and I wonder amongst all the people coming here what do they prefer more the Russian Lada or the Italian Lamborghini? What do you think? Based on the amount of people walking in and then seeing this car straight away it's obviously very popular maybe the pink color maybe the design and then the Lada only has one or two people stopping to look at it. Maybe most people don't recognize it or understand what it is yet because it's not really been announced too much in the press. You could very easily come to this park and just walk around all the different gardens and the different buildings and no matter how many times you come here you'll see something you didn't see before. Off in the distance they've actually got a thing called the Sun of Moscow. It's one of the largest ferris wheels in the world that opened about two years ago now and I think most people today are here to see the different cars that are on display. So there is a mixture of Russian cars and then also some imported cars and luxury cars, different models from different eras and I believe that these cars come from some different museums in Moscow and some are also private vehicles so depending on which model is here. Now currently it is the school holidays in Russia, the summer holidays, so most people have brought their family here and although this is a working day in Moscow it's still going to be a very popular thing to come to. There's cars on both sides of this middle promenade and I think it's just so interesting to see how many people have come to see this, take photos and try to understand the Lada revolution. Is this a Lada hypercar or a Lada supercar? Wow, how have I never seen this before? Actually another car that I know the name of without looking. This is the Marusia and this was Russia's attempt at a hypercar or a supercar with the rear engine and there is models of this on the road in Russia. I have also seen this for sale in one of the car dealerships in Moscow as well. I don't know how many they ever produced but they are such a strange looking car or especially when you compare it to other Russian cars on the road. But this is the point of this exhibition to highlight the achievements of Russian vehicle production. If anybody has ever seen the Victory Day parade in Moscow, this is one of the cars that they use for the dignitaries and the military officials when they parade around the Red Square. The license plate 0001 and this is an Auris but it's a convertible model and this is very unique because it's got one of the largest convertible soft tops of any car in production in the world and it's a longer wheelbase than the traditional Auris but rather famous. It has its own roof as well I think because of the canopy but this is actually a museum model but they bring it out for the Victory Day parades. So most people would know this car brand but not specifically the fact it's a soft top version. Have a look at how many people and have a look at the view. Beautiful. One thing I'm noticing is there's quite a lot of cars that are not known by the general public and having chatted to a few people here they've never seen any of these cars on the road and of course lots of the car manufacturers make concept cars or design cars that never see the light of day. This is actually a collaboration with a Russian company, a Chinese company to try to localize electric cars and they're saying that the localization of this is up to 60 percent and I think pretty much the things that aren't Russian would be things like the battery and then the electronics and the dashboard but actually have a look at the ground clearance of this car which is very handy for Russian winters. Badenha originally opened back in 1939. This is actually Vladimir Lenin here however it was Joseph Stalin who was the person who signed the original decree to build and design this place and some of the buildings are just incredible how large they are and it really just shows you how big Russia is as a country and of course this place celebrates the achievements of that and imagine they built this entire place to highlight the things that Russia has done amazingly well over the years and particularly in manufacturing, farming and different industries but I think you have to come here yourself to really understand the scale of this place. One thing Russia doesn't do is they don't hide or shy away from products from other countries. It would be very easy to only show you everything that is Russian made here but they've also got BMWs here from Germany, they've got Chevys which would be American however most Chevys you see in Moscow now come from Uzbekistan. This one's kind of quite interesting so although we know it as an American brand there is manufacturing in one of the neighboring countries also over there Porsche as well and then there's even a Ford Anglia in the distance as well. Has anybody watched the movie Gone in 60 Seconds? This is Eleanor here. I'm pretty sure maybe it's a replica model of it. I don't imagine they've got the real one in Russia but you never know. It wouldn't be uncommon for a real movie car to be sitting here on the streets of Moscow. Every time I come to Videnha I always find it really interesting that we're all walking in one direction and then at some point everybody just turns around and walks back in the other direction and I'm always curious what reason everybody comes here for. Maybe for the park, maybe for the forest, maybe to one of the cafes and just the sheer amount of people that come here and I will probably say this is probably the best about one dollar or one euro you can spend it's completely free to come here no matter what event they've got on. All you're spending money on is the cost of a metro ticket to get here and go home and that's it. They also have a stage set up and a concert going on and of course YouTube doesn't like that in terms of the background music so I'll keep walking a little bit away from the music hopefully it'll get a bit quieter. The other thing I just noticed here is they've got the Volga brand on display and I did do a video at the dealership of Volga so they've got all three of their models on display and if you want to watch that video maybe it's maybe easier just to understand about this brand and these are actually assembled and made in Nizhny Novgorod so following on the theme of lots of Russian cars the Volga models here so they've actually got three different models that they make. The other one I just noticed over here is the Ambarato and this is actually an electric car also made in Russia obviously with the help of some partners and I did actually see one of these at the electric car festival in Moscow also. Actually the display they've got set up is from this company here that does the car charging and I'm fairly sure this isn't plugged in it's just a display but they're just highlighting these personal charges that you can buy and they've actually got some of these set up in petrol stations different places and check out this Ionix car this mini car so these are originally from China but now they're assembling them in Saint Petersburg it's pretty cool this one's got the box on the back but there is a sedan version and I went to a dealership and saw these as well in a separate video. Looks like a few of the different car dealerships have some models on show here as well and these are cars that are coming from dealerships that are selling brand new cars however these are imported to Russia through what's called parallel memes so they're coming generally from China or from the Middle East maybe through Belarus but they've got Mitsubishi, Audi, this is the Toyota I think this is the RAV4 and then over here Mazda so you can go to a dealership and get brand new cars and there isn't a problem buying them the fact that they're coming through parallel imports which is very well known as a way to bring the cars into Russia anybody heard of the brand ROK they have two different models here so this is actually a collaboration with Chinese manufacturers and these are assembled in Russia in Kaliningrad so they're bringing them over and then doing what's called screwdriver assembly or semi knockdown SKD but these are very luxurious four-wheel drives these are actually hybrid models so you've got like about a thousand kilometers of range between the engine and the battery has anybody heard of the ROK Adamas before let me know one of the brands I'm very curious to understand about is Subaru here is WRX Forester this is the hybrid model e-boxer and I think officially Subaru is not in Russia however they've got the flags they've got the guys here and these are all brand new models 2026 Forester and there is a dealership in Moscow there's actually a bag here with the information the gentleman kindly gave me their little swag bag and you can buy the brand new models and these are actually manufactured in Japan so these are original Subarus with dealer delivery kilometers but they come through Uzbekistan and then they're here in Moscow but brand new current edition models these aren't old models from two years ago these are the latest ones so we go from the Japanese cars to the different French cars and they have a dealership here with all of the different Citroen and Peugeot now in Australia we don't really have many of these compared to what they would be in Europe for instance but they've got all of these newest models on show actually quite a few different ones I didn't realize how many as I'm walking along here and actually the gentleman was saying that the Peugeot and Citroen brand didn't leave Russia so despite other French companies that did these are all still officially available not too long ago I went to the Evolute dealership in Moscow and they have a few of the other models here iJoy iSky the other one maybe iSpace so these are electric cars that are actually assembled in Russia by our Chinese partners it's pretty neat to see the different models on show and then this actually I might want to talk about this separately in just a minute this is the Umo 5 which is from the Moskvich factory in Moscow and this actually isn't on the road yet as a passenger car but you can ride this as a taxi so they've got one here now check it out where is the grill where is the grill but they've got the Umo right here I didn't actually realize with the Umo they had two different models so they've got the Umo 8 which is the bigger family car if you like and then the one that's been heavily advertised is this Umo 5 and it is actually a collaboration with Yandex and they've got the CarPlay which is now Yandex CarPlay Yandex is very similar to Google you can think of it that way or the way Apple CarPlay works and they've actually got the hood lifted here so we can see the engine right there so these are both electric cars and at the moment you can put deposits on these and I think roughly September or October they'll be available to the public but super interesting let's just have a tiny look inside but you're able to use the whole screen here with the connection to Yandex or what they call Alisa so you can talk to it it'll talk back and this is going to be Russia's newest electric car when it becomes available to the general public the Moskvich they've got it in a wrap here with the gold this is the electric Moskvich the 3e and then the petrol version and then these are the new Moskvich cars which are based on the MG car platform so if you know MG these might look very similar and they've got very bright colors this orange here I think it's intentional so it gets attention for everybody who wants to come and see them they also have the future new car here Atom and there's nobody around here to actually talk to anybody about them and pretty much nobody coming to look at them either considering how many other cars are here and these aren't available as a passenger vehicle just yet they're still in the production or pre-production this will become a bit of a thing I'm going to say either later this year or next year you can still place orders for them now ahead of time and they're a much smaller car maybe about the size of a Suzuki Swift I think that's probably about the way to describe the size of them but it's really interesting it's so hard to see through the window but there's no speedometers there's a digital screen actually on the steering wheel it's really quite unique how they've designed it like that I think Lada perhaps has the biggest display here of all of the brands and they've got every model that they make and a couple of important ones or unique ones I think the Lagos here which is actually with LNG gas or in Russia they call it CNG so it has the tank in the back and you can go to fill with the it's LPG I'm getting my acronyms mixed up and there is also one of the models that's the electric Lada as well lots of people very interested in all the different models that they make they have a whole row of them and then further on the Lada Niva which we know well the four-wheel drive just the amount of people here it's really kind of I'm going to say crazy but if you came here and this display wasn't on there'd be as many people coming to this park now check out these this is 212 so this is actually kind of a bit of a confusing collaboration here between a Russian company and then a Chinese company and 212 is the area code for New York and actually it's one of the few car companies in the world which doesn't have an actual name it's just 212 now if that's true or not let me know as I walk a little bit further into the park I didn't realize how big this exhibition is and it's I think three days so maybe it might be worth me coming back they've got on this side all of the different Lada models pretty much every single model of the original manufacturing of the Ladas and it's so cool to see I know I'm going to say that and repeat it and then the backdrop here or the background all of the different buildings that make up where they are and then over on this side they've got all of the Moskvich cars I'm sure somebody in the comments will be upset with the way I keep saying it Moskvich but they've got all of their original models on show what I understood when I was coming here was that it was mostly about the vintage cars but then I came across all of the models of cars so it's a bit of a overlap check out the van version that's really neat and they do actually have signs so you can read about them and learn about them the condition of these cars I mean these are what I would consider museum finish I don't think too many of these cars are actually private cars and they've got the ute version or utility version in Australia we call it a ute and the platform and then even the trailer as well they also have quite a lot of the different Volga branded cars so we saw the new model if you like and then this is the original Volga cars right here and then they go the entire way along this corridor so they've essentially got one of every model that was released or the models that were kind of produced in a certain year this one here with Belarus number plates so what I understand after reading a few of these signs is some of them are from museums and then some of them are from people's private collections and they brought them here for the display and this has to be the largest car display that I've ever been to here in Russia to have so many of them in one place is very unique I really hope this is interesting and for me it really is because I'm getting to see every original Russian car that was produced and then of course the modern cars as well so there's quite an overlap of different automotive industries here at this one event and I hope the video isn't too long so just enjoy the rest of the show this park is also very well known for its water fountains and they have some pretty spectacular ones as you walk around there's kind of different zones of the park and each one has a different theme of some kind and just to come here and enjoy this is enough of a day for most people the sheer amount of people that are here on a Friday as well maybe all of the men made some good excuses to come to the park today when they have this car exhibition on I wonder each of these different buildings represents a different region of what originally was the USSR and then when it was broken up into the Commonwealth Independent States these buildings remained and over the years they've kind of transformed into different exhibition halls and primarily it's to talk about the achievements of that region of Russia and they've got the buildings that run all the way down this promenade here and each one of them has different design different theme and different architecture I wonder for everybody watching what's more interesting for everybody the newer cars the older cars I mean I think for a lot of people that have come to this exhibition maybe a lot of particularly the older crowd are reminiscing by seeing cars they remember from their childhood maybe their grandparents had one or great-grandparents then to see them in this condition kind of parked up here it's just incredible really and truly so there is a mixture particularly on these older ones where they're private cars or they're from different collectors of them as well but it's very cool and very impressive and I think you don't even have to have that car passion to come to something like this you can just have an excuse to walk in the park at the same time and have a look at some Russian automobiles of course the motherland Belarus is represented and interestingly they've got their vehicles parked right in front of the Belarus exhibition hall right here now the sun is kind of getting a little bit lower in the sky so this is the Belarus pavilion so you actually go there there's a cafe there's shops and a museum as well and then they had to park their Belarus trucks right out the front and this is the Maz brand you can see that Belarus flag right there and these are absolute beasts when you're standing near them that's just so cool that they managed to get theirs parked right outside their own pavilion a little bit of a show-off at the same time I think they also have another additional expo kind of grouped together here they've got lots of show cars and look at these very big hummers and then very small lotus cars this hummer over here is massive come on everybody it has the raptor finish on it how much petrol must that thing use I'd be scared to know it's kind of right at the back of this whole exhibition and they've also got I think one autoblogger over here as well I'm not too sure maybe he's a driver for one of the car rally teams they've got some very interesting cars on show it's just interesting to see maybe he's famous or well known I'm not too sure anybody from Russia recognize him people getting autographs no one's asking for my autograph what's going on check out the Lamborghini here man they're so low to the ground and then the Porsche maybe GT3 or one of these models very nice cars they have one of the ladders here and I've seen this before at a different expo that I went to and it's meant to look like the Mercedes Maybach the way that it's actually finished with the two-tone paint and then these solid wheels now it's not a Maybach it's a ladder but it's kind of made to look like one so they've got the GT3 here the Porsche very very nice car really and truly and then right next to it they've got the Ram trucks and this is actually the dealership in Moscow that I went and visited to make a video and I don't see the staff here because the guy that's the principal of that dealership is a super cool guy and I guess they brought a couple of their models just for a little bit of branding and these are all brand new I'm not sure these particular models but the ones that he's selling were all imported brand new cars what would you like the Porsche or the truck let me know your opinion on the Tesla Cybertruck and really interesting I wonder who did this when somebody's put the Zhiguli logo on the back of the Cybertruck and it's got the wrap in gold as well so maybe for the registration of it they've renamed it now I think this is here because of the branding of the wheels here with the Russian symbol here for the ruble now do you like these or not be honest what do you think the Zhiguli at the far end of the park they've got a couple more of these exhibition halls one is actually dedicated to space flights there is also a motor vehicle museum as well on the left and then this place is not finished yet and this has been under construction for a couple of years now and this I understand will be the sports museum or achievements in Russian sport once they eventually finish it and I think highlighting things like the Olympics and the achievements of athletes dating back from the USSR right through now to the current athletes it's a pretty big building now I understand why it's been under construction for a few years they've just kind of uncovered all this entranceway here and you weren't able to see this for a long time this will be pretty cool to go and see when it opens I think I just need to highlight this building and I really need to come back here for a separate video this is the atomic energy display not quite sure it's a museum but it highlights the atomic industry or nuclear power industry in Russia and this building is huge as well and the actual roof is cantilevered from in the ground 18 meters to this corner point then these huge glass windows that they've installed but I think I need to come back another day for this place as I keep walking along these different boulevards some other different vehicles I'm fairly sure that these are from the different museums there's one that's like a central garage museum have a look at this limousine model here that's really cool and I think some of these were used by the administration in Moscow and by the government it's pretty impressive to see them up close you know you only know a few different models in your life until you come to Russia and you realize just how many cars were domestically manufactured here and how many different types and just have a look at the view back towards that main building and the amount of people that are here I've said it a few times now I understand this is for three days I keep getting a different information as I've been walking around if I have a chance to come back I think I could easily make a second video just based on how many different cars are here or make it about a certain topic of cars but absolutely beautiful these cars on display Auris is here I didn't notice these when I first did the walk around they've got quite a few different models and there's some that are armor plated and some of that are the traditional family cars if you would call it that this is effectively is the Russian equivalent of Rolls-Royce have very big cars and then there's the ones that are the limousine style so the new model as well so not right here and this is the car that the president of Russia rolls around in when you see him out and about I'm not sure precisely which model he has he probably has a few of them in the garage but you do see these on the road in Moscow the Sanat limousine very impressive and just so interesting to see them it's actually a few hours later than the last scene you watched and the sun has just gone down and the fact that it's a beautiful day here today a little bit of a sunset and just have a look at how many people are still out and about here you can see the wheel and then the water fountain here and then also in the background the concert going on this is a pretty amazing water fountain I won't I won't lie it's very very cool just how big it is and just look at everybody just chilling just relaxing it has been a warm day for most people and the silhouette of all the different buildings and I think this is a nice way to slowly end the video what do you think this is the pavilion for Armenia and how cool does that look these columns and then there's actually statues built into the columns with different people and then at the top the wheat and the fruits and vegetables so a lot of the different buildings are built to signify the achievements of that region so things like wheat fruit vegetables and then the workers at the same time and how cool is that part of the reason why I'm filming this part now quite a bit later is I met up with some subscribers who follow the channel also follow me on telegram and we had a nice afternoon together they were at the same park as I was and it only made sense to hang out for a while and have a walk around you know who you are thank you so much and I hope our paths cross again somewhere before I sign off I'll leave you with some parting views of the different buildings as I head on out and where we were only a few hours earlier it's actually just as nice a park to come in the evening time as it is to come during the day and I'll even say going back to winter as well they have a huge ice skating rink that they set up here you see the arch where I need to walk through to head to the metro there's still people filing in here and we're close to 9 p.m in the evening so lots of people want to come later obviously today was a working day in Moscow so a lot of people will come after work for a walk here and whether they live close by or not short walk to the metro and you can head on home from here how nice though the water fountains the arches and probably for most people who live in Moscow this is the best park in the city maybe it's not as green as other places but it makes up for it in the architecture and just that sense of discovering new places every time you come here as I walk back under the arch from where I started the video and I head home almost in darkness I really hope you've enjoyed this video if it's really long I'm not going to apologize this time I could actually easily make two or three videos based on the amount of things that I showed and the amount of things I didn't on the video because there was hundreds I think maybe more than a thousand cars at this expo and it was very cool I don't know how many times I'll say cool today and I'm going to answer a question not necessarily ask you a question someone asked me actually today do I enjoy living in Russia it's days like today when you come to a place like this and you realize what you're seeing is history it's a part of history and a lot of people got to experience and see some cars from way before my time and to walk through this park and realize you're walking on the same footpaths that millions of people have walked before well before I ever came to Russia and it's a pleasure to come and walk here and show Russia to you my secret word might be a little bit hard to spell it's azimuth and the elada azimuth which we saw back at the beginning of the video and actually I just walked past it again now because I wanted to have a second look at it that's the secret word not sure how you can get it in the comments but if you do I know you've watched these last few minutes thumbs up if you like the video and post a comment maybe you recognize some cars and maybe they bring back some memories perhaps particularly for Russians who know these models very well more than what I know of them so thank you very simple if you want to watch another video on the channel one will come up right here now and you can click this and I'll actually put a video from back in winter so you can see the difference in this place thanks everybody I'm off on another adventure bye