Gop Celebrates The Return Of The Great American Car With A Picture Of A Lada

Jose HERNANDEZ Camera 51/Shutterstock

When Jalopnik writer Collin Woodard dropped this tweet from nan charismatic GOP relationship into Slack, I had to double cheque and triple cheque to spot if it was a joke, but nope — that really is simply a image of President Trump, doing his favourite weird creation that looks for illustration a babe who has conscionable discovered his hands, successful beforehand of a Lada. And not moreover a comparatively caller Lada either, arsenic it appears to beryllium a VAZ-2101, 1 of nan earliest models of nan car produced successful nan 1970s and '80s. What nan hell? 

The meme style image bears nan watermark of The Daily Signal, a superior blimpish news website that intelligibly does not person an automotive aliases satirical section, but moreover so, this is not a retweet from a perchance smarmy site. It's a afloat blown station by nan charismatic GOP account, a tweet that proudly proclaims "The One Big Beautiful measure will thrust nan return of nan awesome American car." 

The One Big Beautiful measure will thrust nan return of nan awesome American car.
🇺🇸🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/poAsG8pDKg

— GOP (@GOP) July 31, 2025

That tile line, those instrumentality arches — axenic Lada, comrade. Ladas are, astir notably, not American-made cars. Until recently, Lada's location was in Tolyatti, Russia, connected nan Volga River. That was earlier sanctions against Russia owed to nan penetration of Ukraine forced nan institution to region production. Renault had a controlling liking in Avtovaz, nan genitor institution of Lada, but pulled retired that aforesaid year, CNN reports. The institution was founded arsenic a state-run car institution (as almost each of nan companies successful nan USSR were) and fundamentally built rebadged Fiat 124s that could past nan sadistic Russian weather.

wikicommons

It's specified a ridiculous and frankly astonishing correction to make. There is specified a wealthiness of American cars, some from nan past–if that's what you want for your connection astir nan early for immoderate reason–and from nan present, which would make a hellhole of a batch much sense. Heck, you could person put a Tesla backmost location and repaid your best frenemy's many generous donations to nan winning GOP candidate's campaign pinch a small much free publicity. God knows Tesla could really usage nan thief correct now, arsenic income person slumped ever since CEO Elon Musk dipped his toes into nan swamp of Washington D.C. 

But moreover arsenic a mistake, utilizing this Lada image makes nary sense. It moreover looks for illustration a crappy aged car. The civilian, non-car personification mightiness spot a Chrysler K-Car successful those boxy and uninspiring proportions, but that is besides bad for your brand. Why would you prime not conscionable an old, but proudly economical vehicle? The imagination of nan early of nan car manufacture this tweet is trading strikes maine arsenic beautiful grim, moreover too nan truth that is an aged Soviet-made car successful nan background. Maybe it made it connected because nan car is yellow, and immoderate 20-year-old societal media head thought yellowish intends it is simply a cool car. Really sloppy work.

The Lada is amended known these days for taking a monumental magnitude of maltreatment and continuing connected their merry way. From our own Lada task car to Garage 54, a YouTube transmission which has welded a Lada to different Lada, given a Lada legs and powered 1 pinch just 50 cordless drills among different things, Ladas person staying power. Maybe that's what nan GOP wanted to convey: an automotive manufacture arsenic unstoppable arsenic a Soviet made car.