Moscow, Russia, August 23rd, 1999
Ear shattering wailing of sirens and rotating emergency lights announce the arrival of an unusual convoy on the Red Square in the center of the 12-million metropolis of Moscow. At exactly the same place where a little bit of over a decade ago the German pilot Matthias Rust made his risky landing which subsequently got him in jail, the Swiss car manufacturer Frank M. Rinderknecht gets out of his striking yellow one-off vehicle - the "Rinspeed X-Trem" - and presents it to a waiting crowd of photographers and film crews. Only thirty minutes later the futuristic concept car of Helvetia is on the air in the national news. Such a spectacular automobile has not yet been seen in the streets of Moscow.
For the occasion and inauguration of the muscovite Auto-Salon" the pick-up - with its integrated hovercraft - has taken the strenuous and long journey to Russia.
Grace to the close cooperation of the tire manufacturer Continental", the shipping company Danzas", the organizers of the Moscow Motor Show ITE" and the leading Russian car magazine Autopanorama" the difficult tasks of bringing the eye-catcher" of the Geneva Motor Show to the roads of Moscow and the visiting the St. Basil cathedral on Red Square, the arch of triumph and the monument of the soldiers could be solved.
What will be the unusual destination of next years creation after the voyage with the "Rinspeed E-Go Rocket" to the Great Wall in China of last year and this visit with the "Rinspeed X-Trem" in Moscow?