Car Zone: russia

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Total CEO Dies in Plane-on-Plow Crash In Moscow

Christophe de Margerie, the chief executive officer of French oil company Total, died in a plane crash in Moscow when his private jet collided with a snow plow at the Vnukovo International Airport on Monday night. He was the only passenger on the plane, although the plane also carried three crew members. All four died when the plane caught fire after the collision.

Russia's Investigative Committee has opened a criminal investigation on the incident and has confirmed that the driver of the snow plow, identified as Vladimir Martynenko, was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Martynenko, through his lawyer, has denied the accusations.

De Margerie was reportedly in Moscow to attend a Russian government meeting on foreign investment in Gorki, near Moscow, on Monday. The Total CEO even met Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, at the latter's country residence outside Moscow to discuss foreign investment in Russia.

The loss of de Margerie is a big blow to the French oil company. He was widely regarded as the driving force that turned Total into a heavyweight in the oil industry, steering the company to levels of success it had never reached before he took over as CEO.

Understandably, his untimely death came as a shock to a lot of people, including French prime minister Manuel Valls, who hailed de Margerie as an "extraordinary business leader who turned Total into a world giant."

Even the company's competitors voiced their shock over his unexpected passing. Lord John Browne, the former CEO of British Petroleum (BP), sent a tweet to express his sadness over de Margerie's death, calling the Total chief a "creative, inspiring, breath of fresh air" that will be missed by the entire oil industry.

Our sincerest condolences go out to the families of Christophe de Margerie and the three crew members that lost their lives over this horrific accident.

Click past the jump to read more about Christophe de Margerie

Total CEO Dies in Plane-on-Plow Crash In Moscow originally appeared on topspeed.com on Wednesday, 22 October 2014 16:00 EST.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Mercedes-Benz S600 Guard by TOPCAR

TOPCAR has popped back into the TopSpeed offices, straight out of Russia, with an all-new bespoke vehicle. Last time we caught up with our Russian custom car friends they were getting their Panamera Stingray 9/25 ready for the 2012 Moscow International Automobile Salon. Now they have delivered us a little more comfort and loads of safety with their Guard upgrade kit for the 2005 through 2013 Mercedes-Benz S600.

TOPCAR began by stripping this S600 down and adding in bullet-proof glass and paneling to keep its occupants safe. While the armoring is cool and likely costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, we are interested mostly in what the armor is protecting. No, not the occupants, we are talking about that gorgeous interior!

The entire interior covering has been removed and replaced from headliner to floor - yeah, we said the floor too - with an elegant blend of lozenge-textured crocodile, Nappa, and Alcantara leather. Sure, using crocodile leather isn't the most PETA-friendly thing in the world, but when you have the roughly $100K that TOPCAR put into the interior, you can tell PETA to go save a squirrel. Plus, we're pretty sure their presence in Russia is nearly non-existent.

The crocodile leather wraps up the seats, doors, dashboard, and floor. Gracing the luggage compartment is diamond-quilted Nappa leather, making a comfortable ride for your golf clubs or whatever else you like to stick in your trunk. With our contact at TOPCAR volunteering that sometimes the term "crazy Russian" is justified, we will leave the other trunk-dwelling objects to your imagination.

You also get a huge amount of custom Karelian birch wood trim to set off all of this beautifully crafted leather. To wrap up the package, TOPCAR replaced all of the Benz's lowly chrome trim with gold-covered pieces. I mean, you can never rock crocodile leather with chrome trim after Labor Day, right?

"Wow" just about sums up this car. When it comes to tiptoeing the line between fantastically gorgeous and horrendously overdone, TOPCAR toed that line with the expertise we expected. Awesome job!

Mercedes-Benz S600 Guard by TOPCAR originally appeared on topspeed.com on Saturday, 22 September 2012 18:00 EST.