The sealing of the windscreen is uneven, and visitors were not allowed to open the doors – as the interior was not yet finished. Perhaps the Simurgh’s most unusual feature, however, is its country of origin: Afghanistan, where the Taliban took control two years ago.
Named after a mythical Persian bird with the head of a dog, the claws of a lion and big enough to carry an elephant or whale, the Simurgh took a team of 30 people five years to make, Entop CEO Mohammad Reza Ahmadi said. , writes Bloomberg. The project was delayed by the pandemic and the collapse of the Afghan economy after the Taliban took over, said Ahmadi, who is also the chief engineer and designer.
While Afghanistan’s rugged mountain roads are more suited to rugged four-wheel drives and sport utility vehicles, Ahmadi says he wants to do something different.
– I want to do something that will put my country on the map again, he said in an interview at the Doha fair. “Simurgh represents the heroes and art of Afghanistan. “The SUV will not be the same.”
The car, which runs on a four-cylinder engine, was introduced in late 2022. It went viral in January when a Taliban spokesman shared a video of an earlier version of the vehicle, then known as Mada9. The video shows a crowd of ex-rebels admiring the car.