name	yo-mobil
manufacturer	ë-Auto
production	From 2012
body style	Coupe or sedan, hatchback, truck
engine	Gasoline or natural gas hybrid }}

The yo-mobil ( and pronounced "yo-mobil") is a planned hybrid car that will be produced by ë-Auto, a Russian company that is a joint venture between truck maker Yarovit and the Onexim investment group.

Background

The car was introduced on 13 December 2010 in Moscow, a product of a joint venture between Yarovit, a producer of trucks based in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Onexim investment group, headed by Mikhail Prokhorov, who is the leader and financier of the project. Prokhorov planned to invest around €150 million (US$200 million) in a the venture, dubbed ë-Auto. According to Prokhorov, he intended for the vehicle to "break the stereotype saying Russia can't produce good cars."

Design

The car will be powered by an engine that can burn both gasoline and natural gas and is connected to a pair of electric motors. Unlike other hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, the internal-combustion engine directly powers the motors rather than a battery. The engine is of a rotary vane type, with the pistons moving in a circle, rather than linearly.

Fuel economy of the car is expected to be around , with a range of and a top speed of .

The vehicle will be sold in three different body types—a sedan or coupe, a hatchback and a delivery truck. Most components of the vehicle will be produced in either Russia or former Soviet Union countries.

Production and sales

ë-Auto plans to begin producing the car during the second half of 2012, and aims to sell 10,000 during the first year of production. The initial price is to be around 350,000-450,000 rubles ($12,000-$15,000), within reach of Russia's middle class. While it will be initially sold in Russia, ë-Auto plans to sell the vehicle in Europe pending compliance with European Union regulations. The cars will be manufactured in a factory near St Petersburg that will have an estimated annual capacity of 45,000 units. A second factory, to be opened later, is expected to double the annual production rate.

References

External links

, (Yo! New eco-friendly car could re-energize Russia’s motor market) , (Putin takes Russian hybrid car for a test drive)

YAROVIT Motors

Onexim Group

Category:Hybrid vehicles Category:Vehicles introduced in 2010 Category:2010s automobiles

bg:Ё-мобил de:Ё-mobil he:יו מובייל pl:Jo-mobil ru:Ё-мобиль

name	Mikhail Prokhorov
birth place	Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
residence	Moscow, Russia
citizenship	Russia
alma mater	Moscow Finance Institute
occupation	Businessman
known for	owner of the New Jersey Nets
networth	$18 billion.
height	}}

Mikhail Dmitrievitch Prokhorov (Russian: Михаил Дмитриевич Прохоров; born May 3, 1965) is a Russian billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the American basketball team, the New Jersey Nets. After graduating from the Moscow Finance Institute he made his name in the financial sector and went on to become one of Russia's leading industrialists in the precious metals sector. While he was running Norilsk Nickel, the company became the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium. He is currently chairman of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, and President of ONEXIM Group.

Prokhorov is the third richest man from Russia and the 39th richest man in the world according to the 2010 Forbes list with a fortune estimated at $18 billion as per the ''Forbes Billionaire List''.

Family

Born in Moscow to Dmitry and Tamara Prokhorov, he has one sibling, an elder sister, Irina. His paternal grandparents were impoverished kulaks. His maternal grandmother, Anna Belkina, was a microbiologist. His father was the head of the international department of the Soviet Sports Committee, which gave him the rare privilege of traveling abroad. His mother grew up in Moscow and worked as an engineer for a university research group specializing in plastics. Prokhorov's father and mother died within a year of each other from heart disease; both were in their late 50s.

Career

Early years

In 1989, he graduated with honours from the Finance University under the Government of the Russian Federation, known at the time as the Moscow Finance Institute. From 1989 to 1992, Prokhorov worked in a management position at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, and afterwards shortly served as head of Management Board of the International Finance Company (MFK). In 1993, aged 28, during the largely un-regulated privatization of former state-controlled industries after the collapse of the USSR, Prokhorov (together with Vladimir Potanin) engineered the acquisition of Norilsk Nickel by Onexim Bank, of which he was then chairman of the board.

Norilsk Nickel

After selling off most of Norilsk's non-mining assets, Prokhorov moved to modernize a complicated, expensive business venture which required icebreakers to transport metal over the frozen Arctic region. Prokhorov invested in an innovative Finnish freighter that did not require icebreakers. Norilsk Nickel is headquartered in the Siberian city of the same name. Environmental and labor conditions are harsh there, and pollution remains a problem; Prokhorov has invested heavily in pollution control. He converted Norilsk Nickel's gold-mining interests into the $8.5 billion corporation Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold producer, of which he is chairman of the board.

Prokhorov resigned as Norilsk CEO in February 2007 and declared his intention to separate his assets from those of long-time partner Vladimir Potanin. The two engaged in protracted negotiations to separate the conglomerate Interros, co-owned by the two, into separate holdings. By the end of 2009, the only major asset jointly owned by the two remains the development company JSC Open Investments, which is hard to value due to a volatile situation on the Moscow real estate market.

ONEXIM Group

In May 2007, following the decision to exit Interros, Prokhorov launched the private investment fund ONEXIM Group, with assets valued at $17 billion at the time. As the de-merger from Interros proceeded, and as other industries caught Prokhorov's attention, the group rapidly changed its investment profile. In April 2008, Prokhorov sold his most valuable asset - a 25% plus two shares stake in Norilsk Nickel - to United Company RUSAL, another mining conglomerate controlled by fellow billionaire Oleg Deripaska, in exchange for some 14% of Rusal stock, about $5 billion in cash and an obligation to pay over $2 billion more. The deal has been singled out as a major success for Prokhorov as only three months later, following a dip in oil prices, a disastrous stock market crash halved the value of most Russian companies, including Norilsk. He emerged as one of the very few businessmen to have cashed out in time. However, his wealth has also been affected, as the value of his remaining interests in various companies (including Rusal and Open Investments) declined sharply, and as the remaining payment from Rusal had to be postponed.

In September 2008, ONEXIM Group acquired 50% of Renaissance Capital, a major Russian investment bank which has reportedly encountered liquidity problems. ONEXIM also purchased a small bank, renaming it IFC (for the bank which Prokhorov had run in the early 1990s).

One of ONEXIM Group's divisions focuses on the development of nanotechnology investing in high-technology projects such as white LEDs. One of the key areas of development is the production of materials with ultra–tiny structures used in energy generation and medicine. In that purpose in 2008 ONEXIM purchased Optogan.

In June 2007, then-Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov announced the formation of the Government Council for Nanotechnology, to oversee the development of nanotechnology in the country. Prokhorov was one of 15 individuals appointed to the council, which was to be chaired by then-First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov.

A high-profile media venture is JV!, a media group led by the publisher of ''Kommersant'', Vladimir Yakovlev; the group publishes, among other things, such magazines targeted at the wealthy as ''Snob'' and ''Russian Pioneer''.

In July 2009, the shareholders of RBC Information Systems agreed with ONEXIM Group of Mikhail Prokhorov to sell the latest issue of the additional 51% stake for $80 million, half of which went to pay off debts. The deal was closed in 2010. Prokhorov has business interests in mining and metallurgy (Polyus Gold, stake in Rusal), financial services (IFC-Bank, Soglassye insurance company, half of Renaissance Capital), utilities (stake in Quadra), nanotech, media (JV!) and real estate development (stake in Open Investments).

Sports and patronage

In March 2004 he founded the Cultural Initiatives Foundation (as part of the Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation). It is headed by Prokhorov's elder sister, Irina, a prominent Russian publisher. At one time, he financially supported CSKA Moscow's basketball, hockey and football clubs, and is a member of the Supreme Council of the Sport Russia organisation. Prokhorov currently serves as president of the Russian Biathlon Union.

In September 2009 he made an offer to buy a controlling interest in the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association and half of a project to build a new arena in Brooklyn. On May 11, 2010, the NBA approved the sale of the Nets to Prokhorov, making him majority owner of the team with an 80% stake, as well as a 45% interest in their new Barclays Center. He thus became the first non-North American and tallest (he stands 6'8") NBA owner.

A martial arts enthusiast, Prokhorov is, as of 2011, an Ambassador for Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization, committed to serving peace in the world through sport.

Controversies

At a Christmas party for the Russian rich at the French Alpine resort of Courchevel in January 2007, he was arrested for allegedly arranging prostitutes for his guests. After four days he was released without charge. In September 2009, Prokhorov was officially cleared from this charge and the judicial case was dismissed. According to his blog, he even received apologies from French officials during his visit to France in November 2009.

Prokhorov made headlines in early March 2010 when he was forced to forfeit a £36 million deposit he placed on the £360 million Villa Leopolda in the French Riviera in 2008. Under French property law, once an initial sale contract has been signed, a deposit can only be refunded during a seven day cooling-off period. On March 2, 2010, a court in Nice, France ruled that the villa's owner, 71-year-old Lily Safra, widow of deceased billionaire banker Edmund Safra, could keep the £36 million deposit, plus £1 million in interest.

Regarding Prokhorov's political efforts and the Right Cause party, critical commentators claim that the entire endeavor is just a project of the Kremlin closely curated by Vladislav Surkov and that Prokorov was effectively appointed a party leader. According to them, the "puppet party" was designed to divert opposition voters by using liberal rhetoric.

Awards

In August 2006 he was awarded the Order of Friendship for his significant contribution to the growth of Russia’s economic potential, when the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, signed an order for the granting of state honours on August 18, 2006. In March 2011, he was bestowed with the French Legion of Honour. France's ambassador to Moscow, Jean de Gliniastrance, presented it at the French embassy in Moscow.

Russian politics

In May, 2011, Prokhorov announced a plan to join the leadership of the Russian pro-business political party Right Cause. While not antagonistic to the Kremlin, the party is likely to support President Dmitry Medvedev rather than Prime Minister Vladimir Putin if the latter enters the 2012 presidential race. On June 25, 2011, Prokhorov was elected to the leadership of the party at the Right Cause Party Congress of 2011. At the acceptance ceremony, Prokhorov officially criticized the present ruling tandem of Medvedev-Putin, the structure of Russia, and vowed to bring Russia back to a stable development course.

See also

List of billionaires

Ё-mobile

References

External links

Forbes billionaire topic page on Mikhail Prokhorov. Forbes.com. Accessed April 2010.

Article about his January 12, 2007 arrest

2007 ''Kommersant'' article about Prokhorov standing down as Norilsk CEO

"Mikhail Prokhorov: The Russian Is Coming", ''60 Minutes'', CBS-TV, March 28, 2010

"The N.B.A.'s Oligarch and His Power Games", ''The New York Times Magazine'', October 28, 2010

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Businesspeople in metals Category:People from Moscow Category:Russian businesspeople Category:Russian billionaires Category:Russian mass media owners Category:New Jersey Nets owners Category:National Basketball Association owners

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