Russian automaker Avtotor released the first photos of a prototype of its upcoming electric car on Monday, sparking a flurry of irony on social media over the car’s massive design.

Russia’s largest financial channel RBC notes that the Moscow Polytechnic Institute has presented to the public a prototype described as a “multifunctional test platform for L7 class electric vehicles” and that it is a preliminary model of the future Amber electric vehicle being developed by Avtotor.

The electric car is created under a special contract concluded between the automaker and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Moscow.

Before the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year and the withdrawal of many Western car manufacturers from Russia, the Avtotor plant in Kaliningrad, which will produce the Amber electric car, assembled BMW, KIA and Hyundai cars.

The Moscow Polytechnic Institute emphasized that all components of the future car are produced in Russia, from the engine to the electric batteries. The university also said the car will be “compact” and “comfortable” and engineers plan to certify the first 5 models for production next year.

The future Russian electric car was called “the ugliest in history”

But the photos published by “Avtotor” caused a wave of irony in social networks, and the body of the car was widely ridiculed by network users.

“All the real designers left Russia. “The Amber car will go down in history as one of the ugliest cars of all time,” said former Twitter user X.

“Avtotor from Russia presented its first electric car Amber. This is officially the ugliest car ever made… 1998 Fiat Multipla can now relax,” another user wrote.

Some netizens used photos of the former presenters of the famous Top Gear UK car show to make fun of the car’s appearance:

“It says ‘I’d rather leave,'” another user “X” noted:

Other netizens have noted that Autotor’s official tagline for the car will be “don’t be intimidated by the way it looks,” but that seems more ironic than the official information.

Even the Russian specialized site auto.mail.ru notes that the car looks like a “mule”, but reminds that Avtotor has stated that this is a preliminary prototype and that the final version will look different.

The Moscow Polytechnic Institute also reported that in order to make the car more accessible to buyers, it will be possible to rent a car battery instead of just buying it, and expensive technologies are not required to manufacture the body.

Avtotor announced that it plans to start mass production of the car from 2025.