Did you know that the FIRST minivan was invented in the USSR?

The predecessor of the route taxi was developed at the Institute of Technical Aesthetics. The compact-looking concept car was something between a passenger car and a bus. It was built on the chassis of the ‘Moskvich-408’ car, with the engine mounted in the rear.

On the right side, the “promising taxi” had a single wide sliding door for passengers. The cabin was quite spacious: four people could travel comfortably – three on regular seats and one on a folding seat. There was also supposed to be enough room left for luggage.

The taxi could reach a speed of up to 90 km/h and was more maneuverable than conventional taxis. Its body was made of fiberglass, while the interior featured a cooling and heating system – a first for a vehicle of this kind.

The designers also thought about the driver: an anatomical, ergonomically designed seat was created specifically for them.\

The prototype was tested in 1965 at Moscow’s First Taxi Fleet and operated on regular routes during the day shift. However, production of the new model was ultimately abandoned, because the country’s automobile plants were already overloaded with other orders.

The idea of creating route taxis would not return until 30 years later.