Russians snapped up a year's worth of Yo-mobiles

The launch of online sales of the Yo-mobile on the Russian market turned out to be a runaway success: in the first 24 hours, managers at Yo-Avto logged 51,188 pre-orders for the new arrival. That's more than the Russian automaker had planned to produce in its first year — the projected output was 45,000 cars.

Customer preferences broke down as follows: 82% of future buyers want to own the Yo-crossover, 15% plan to buy the Yo-microvan, and 3% went for the Yo-van. Most online buyers chose the all-wheel-drive versions (82%) with the dual-fuel system, which lets you run a Yo-mobile on either petrol or gas. Nearly half the customers (44%) asked to have their car fitted with a 220 V outlet.

As a reminder, the plant whose production line the Yo-mobiles will roll off isn't finished yet: construction of the production facilities is still under way in Marino, near St. Petersburg, with launch planned for 2012. Serial production of the homegrown newcomer is set to begin in the second half of next year.

Yo-Avto plans to produce the car in three body styles: a five-door hatchback, a crossover and a van. The base trim (360,000 roubles) comes with cruise and climate control, a remote engine start-stop system, GPS navigation, a multimedia system with internet access, and LED headlights.

Adding all-wheel drive and the external 220 V outlet pushes the price up to 490,000 roubles. Under the bonnet, every Yo-mobile gets a hybrid unit rated at 60 horses. The new car's fuel consumption makes Russian drivers virtually immune to swings in oil prices: just 3.5 litres per hundred kilometres. On a full tank you can cover 700 km in the van, and 1,100 km in the hatchback.