I know we try to avoid overt politics here at the Autopian, but sometimes something so bonkers happens that there’s really no way to not address it. And I think the category of things that qualify as “so bonkers” absolutely must include a major American political party posting a picture of the president on social media with a message about “making automobiles great again” and then choosing an old Soviet-era Lada as the car to show behind him. Because that just happened.
There’s been a lot of talk about the Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that is outside the scope of our humble car-lovers’ site here, but there is a provision in the bill to effectively remove fines automakers accrue for not meeting fuel economy standards, which proponents of the bill believe will help the American automobile industry.
This point was mentioned in a (seemingly poorly-researched) post from The Daily Signal, which is what the Republican party was referencing in this post they sent out last night on the X social media platform:
The One Big Beautiful bill will drive the return of the great American car.
???????????????? pic.twitter.com/poAsG8pDKg— GOP (@GOP) July 31, 2025
Just in case the tweet gets taken down, here’s a screenshot of the relevant image:
Okay, fine, Make Automobiles Great Again, and the Big Beautiful Bill will “drive the return of the great American car.” You’d think with that sort of sentiment in mind, they’d have picked some sort of legendary American car to feature behind the president, right? Maybe an old Mustang, or a GTO, or a Toronado or a Jeep or a Charger or even a Corvair or, hell, a Gremlin? Something American and iconic.
But the GOP (or whoever made the graphic) took a very different approach here. The car proudly stationed behind the President, proclaiming a re-birth of great American cars, appears to be a Lada 2101.
The Lada 2101 was built from 1970 to 1988 and was based on the Fiat 124; it was also known as the Lada 1200, Lada 1300, and VAZ 2101. It was, of course, a Soviet/Russian car and about the least American car I can think of, by nearly any standard.
So why pick that car for this image?
I even found where the photo came from: a stock image site called Pixabay, where this particular image is tagged with “Lada, Yellow, Vehicle image. Free for use.”
Since it’s free for use, I may as well show you the original image here, right? It’s free!
Look, you can even see that weird mark on the C-pillar! This is the same car.
This all brings us to the real question: why?
Was someone trolling the GOP? Was this intentional? Is it possible some designer knew nothing about cars and somehow, by chance, just decided to use an old Soviet car in this tweet about making American cars great again?
Again, I’d like to try and avoid any overt political discussion here, but I think we can all agree that this is absolutely ridiculous. I’d be writing the same story if the Democratic Party put a post on Instagram of Joe Biden crowing about great American cars in front of a Zaporozhets or something. This is objectively hilarious.
The Republican party is posting pictures of the President cheering in front of classic Soviet iron. What a weird world we’re in.
On the other hand, Trump has a direct line to someone who owns a factory that built a localized version of a foreign car, and there are worse things that could happen than building the Pontiac Vibe for another 30 years.
I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that it was a Fiat, but you found the image. A Fiat would also be a poor choice, especially one with rust on the rocker panel and fenders. Still I prefer either of those being depicted instead of a Toyota.
Best deal he could get when he went to trade in his red model S
Obviously they screwed it all up. It was supposed to be a picture of Vladimir Putin dancing in front of a yellow Corvette.
Can’t trust any of these interns.
Troll. Has to be and wouldn’t be the first time. At a minimum, they’ve also used the Russian flag at times—hey, it’s red, white, and blue, who knew, right? Even for someone that values money and influence over morality of any kind, I can’t imagine working for a creature like him or any of his other swamp beasts would be anything but a frustrating hellscape, so this is just the way somebody is keeping sane.
No way, this has to be intentional. Some master-level trolling.
Agreed. No way you could be this lazy and end up this wrong.
Any American with. a. pulse. could pick out a muscle car, or a glorious square-sided pickup of yore, or just any 80’s family car and the image would likely be attractive, to somebody. But this proves it’s being offshored. Or yeah, a troll.
This is exactly the sort of incompetence I’d expect from the Guardians Of Pedos party.
At first glance I thought this was the Shitbox Showdown for today…I was disappointed when I couldn’t choose the yellow Lada over the orange nada.
Take all the stars
I want to think this is some elaborate dog whistle…after all, up until recently ol’ Donnie Two Scoops just couldn’t get enough of strong, manly Putin. And we all know that Putin’s goal is pretty much resurrection of the Soviet Union. Thus, it would make sense to picture Donnie with some Soviet-era iron.
The reality is probably that someone is just heckin’ lazy.
Why do Ladas have rear window defrosters?
To keep your hands warm while you push them.
Remember when people used to tell their kids “you could be the president someday”?
Not sure this is what they meant.
This entire comment section is worthy of its own separate COTD.
My uncle had exactly the same 2101 in the same yellow. I remember once he was driving and I was in a back seat, he flicked the ash into the window but it flew back through the rear open window and burned my hand.
ahhh…… those were the times.
Subliminal message
Unfortunately they are just stupid. I wish it was subliminal messaging.
Here’s a hot take that will earn me a lot of hate…
American cars were never “great”. Perhaps at one time they were the best cars available, but that doesn’t make them great. Historically, they were overly large, poorly engineered cars that were inefficient in both their use of space and their use of fuel. The ride was designed to be soft, with no effort to make handling any better than “just barely safe”. They almost never had enough brakes for the power they generated. They had tire sizes that just barely met the minimum for load capacity.
/end hot take
As for this photo, I’m a complete AI virgin, but I’m pretty sure I could go to ChatGPT and ask it for a picture of “a vaguely American yellow sedan” and gotten something usable that wasn’t a DRM-free Lada.
My late grandfather used to say that. When anyone said “they don’t make them like they used to”, he’d say “GOOD! They used to make them like shit”. Then he’d tell me about how they rarely lasted past 100k, were always in the shop, and rusted out by the time they were 5 years old.
Most foreign market cars were the same with the exception of the Japanese being good for several hundred k miles if they didn’t rust out even faster.
They were never great? Ok. But, great compared to what? “Great” is a relative term and its measurement is relative to the context. You just list a bunch of things that, in a historical perspective are true compared to modern cars but that were likely not differentiating features for an American car owned/driven in the US in its time.
Perhaps you should learn something about cars before giving a “hot take”.
The incompetence is so pervasive that is seem almost intentional at this point. How could people this effing stupid ever get into any kind of power? (Rhetorical question of course we know how)
We’re in a kakistocracy now, governed by the least suitable and competent people.
This feels like weaponized incompetence or maybe they’ve offshored their social media management.
Well, this president wants to rule by fiat, so it all tracks.
Reminds me of the picture of chuck schumer at a grill that is clearly not lit, with 4 or 5 uncooked patties and one has a slice of cheese on it already for some reason. Is it a requirement in politics to be completely brain dead? Can we remove that requirement so that people who can maybe, i don’t know, run a country can do some work?
When life is stranger than fiction.
“The Republican party is posting pictures of the President cheering in front of classic Soviet iron.”
No surprise that nobody in the Crooked Trump Administration caught this given how collectively stupid they are.
Plus, it’s widely assumed by many that Crooked Trump is a Russian asset.
I thought that was all BS at the time, but it’s hard to argue against it now considering the soft line he’s taken with Russia and how he constantly glazes Putin.
Mercedes Benz 600 Grosser would have been more accurate.
I suppose a Studebaker Dictator would have been a bit on-the-nose…
Perhaps for the wannabe king nothing could be more regal than a Buick Regal.
Or is the height of style for the man who tries to be a land baron than a Chrysler LeBaron with rich corinthian leather.
An AMC Ambassador would definitely be out because yeah international relations aren’t so good.
Or a Lambda Class Empire Shuttle. You know, the kind the Emperor Palpatine used.
(Chipper translator while Vlad speaks Russian): Hello and welcome to Garage 34. A lot of you have asked us if we can build a car that works on hot hair. So we went ahead and got this here Lada, and Donald Trump, and we’re going to see what happens when you make a Donald Trump-powered Lada. So let’s get started. First we need to remove the old engine. And it’s out.
They could’ve at least used a Niva 😛
No really though, LOL what a stupid post even by Trump standards.
I do wish there were some cheap new cars for sale in the US, though. They need to sell the Renault Kwid over here. Maybe Nissan or Mitsubishi could sell it here due to the alliance. Mitsubishi Kwid.
I believe this is the first time I see somebody wishing the Kwid to be sold at all.
People can’t afford new cars anymore, stuck buying used 🙁
The Kwid for sells for $7000 or so, and it even has a cool dash 😀
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aQkmAsmteTg/maxresdefault.jpg
It is a really honest car, maybe even a decent one for the price. And it has a really good space for its size. Decent trunk space and inside is good enough for regular people (if you are tall, then not so much).
+1 in the congregation of Kwid! Loving my electric Kwid so far, it’s insanely light and nimble, absolutely perfect for scooting around Asian cities. Just don’t think too much about safety……
Dual airbags.