The first Monarch press conference has ended.

The first All-Russian press conference dedicated to the launch of a project to create mass production of the first Russian electric car under the MONARCH brand was held on July 29 in Novosibirsk.
The conference was attended by many media, residents and visitors. There was an online broadcast that was watched by other interested parties.

During the conference, a 3D liftback prototype of the MONARCH Concept S car was presented. According to its organizers, after August 1 it will be transferred for the manufacture of the prototype and subsequently will not differ from the serial model in the future.
During the conference, the ideologist and founder of the MONARCH project, Alexey Ponomarenko, spoke on the project and plans for its development.

A. Ponomarenko:
"We saw that the majority of car manufacturers, understanding the needs of the market and the environmental situation in the world, began to develop electric cars from 2015.
Over the past two years we have heard almost daily news about the release of an electric car or startup associated with this industry.

This is no coincidence, since the existing parameters and cost of lithium-ion batteries allow you to create affordable electric cars. Structurally simpler and therefore more reliable, safer and environmentally friendly.
"Russia is lagging behind. To be more precise, there are no electric cars at all.

The Russian automotive industry, according to our citizens, is very poor. Among the cars produced, we have: Lada models (with comparative characteristics of 1960s) below 1 million roubles ($15 600), and the latest achievement of Russian industry - the Aurus car. It is magnificent and technologically advanced, but at the same time costing more than 17,000,000 roubles ($267 000)!"

"Therefore, a niche between 1-17 million is occupied by foreign manufacturers! Is that all right?"
Then Mr. Ponomarenko spoke on his experience and explained why they decided to create an electric car.
"I'll be honest: we could not have made a car with ICE. The electric car is much simplier structurally. The future is undoubtedly electric".

"The official start of the project was given on March 29, 2019. At the same time, from 1.06 to 15.07 the project team was on vacation. So, there were only 2.5 months of the work done.

During this period, we:
- formed the team of the project;
- formed a team of experts. I'll introduce it later (I personally visited more than 25 scientific and industrial institutions);
- prepared and legally approved the structure of the project (departments, rules, instructions, decrees, etc.);
- created and filled in communication channels (the site was visited by more than 12,000 people);
- analyzed the market and decided the characteristics of the car;
- compiled technical specification and held a competition for rendering the model. The winner was determined (Ilya Rasskazov);
- created a 3D model that we will demonstrate today;
- created marketing, economic and legal models for the development of the project;
- started in-depth writing of business plan;
- we have established and agreed to cooperate with more than 100 manufacturing companies in this field in Russia and abroad."

Next Mr. Ponomarenko introduced the project team members. In total, there are more than 40 people.
"Let me remind you - these are only those with whom we agreed to cooperate in the first 2.5 months of the project."

After he announced the technical characteristics of the car:

Chassis:
2 modular platforms for 6 cars:

The first platform:
1. J class sedan (similar to Mercedes C class or BMW 3 series)
2. JX class (similar to Hyundai Creta, Kia Sportage)
3. S class liftback and sedan (similar to Mercedes E class or BMW 5 series).
"Today it will be presented to you."
"We plan to release liftback first."
4. SX class (similar to Mercedes ML or BMW X5)

The second platform:
5. L class (similar to Mercedes S class or BMW 7 series)
6. LX class (similar to Mercedes GL class or BMW X7)

Engines:
Two engines of 100 or 150 kW. Synchronous with a possibility of a complete set on each axis.

Air cooling
Taking into account the various completing gears (2 types),
"We get cars with a capacity of 100 kW (135.962 hp), 150 kW (203.843 hp), 200 kW (271.924 hp), 300 kW (407.886 hp), 400 kW (543.849 hp) and 600 kW (815.773 hp)"

Battery.
"This is the main distinguishing feature of the Monarch project!
The main "feature of the project." The major difference, that will lead to the success of the project! We do not use the battery in its standard design. If you think that I will talk about fantastic energy storage devices ... graphene batteries, etc. – then you are mistaken. We are talking about the use of a removable energy block of various energy densities, which we plan to replace automatically at specialized stations in 2-4 minutes. "

After that, the MONARCH S class car (liftback) was shown to the conference participants. The design of the model was discussed.
Then it was spoken on the MONARCH's plans to create an infrastructure for electric vehicles in Russia.

Alexey Ponomarenko:
"We are well aware that an electric car will not be bought without the infrastructure created for it. In America, Europe and China it has already been created, but in Russia (as always, unfortunately) this process is only in its infancy. There are many stakeholders involved in the development of this infrastructure. The market potential is huge. We, MONARCH, are no exception.

We understand infrastructure as:
1. Charging stations of 3 levels (home charging station (CS), street CS (streaming and storage) and CS to replace the replaceable energy block of a MONARCH car)
2. Dealerships
3. Service centers (we grow specialists in the process of creating a car)."

Mr. Ponomarenko stated that they are now in search of partners in these spheres in the regions.
Speaking about the development of the project, Mr. Ponomarenko stated that: "Given the globalization of the world economy and the high potential for demand for such a product - an electric car, Monarch will have an international positioning.
In 2019-2020, companies will be opened in Barcelona and Los Angeles. We already have a company in Hong Kong SINO and we will work in Asia on its behalf. As for Russia, we have just started searching for Partners in all cities with a population of 500,000 or more."
The speaker also spoke on the financial indicators of the project:
"We will now talk about a business plan ... We get a lot of questions - why 30 billion, not 3 or 300? Why less than VW? Why more than BYD? Where are the numbers from? Certainly, this is a very complex question, which is affected by tons of parameters:
- will we build our factory for the production of batteries or use batteries of the LIOTECH factory?
- will we use existing nodes or will we develop our own?
- will we build the infrastructure on our own or under an affiliate program?
- the exact cost of the production line, as well as the specifics of many elements of production (our own manufacture or an external one), is not completely determined."

Mr. Ponomarenko asked to pay attention to the fact that the project is only 2.5 months old and many issues are under consideration.

Attracted Investments are 14,700,000,000 rubles.
Method:
- Sale of company securities in the amount of 49% of shares on international stock exchanges;
- Direct sales of shares to funds on behalf of the company.
Estimated return on shares: 20% per annum is provided by the release of 20,000 cars.
Net annual profit of the enterprise is 6,000,000,000 roubles

Alexey Ponomarenko:
"Of course, these are the estimated calculations for the project. We cannot assume the growth of the value of the shares themselves. But, for example, Tesla almost does not pay profit to its shareholders, but its shares rose in price from $ 12 to $272 (with a peak of $430). It is 20 times bigger."
Next, plans were announced for the construction of a plant for the assembly of these cars in Novosibirsk.
As a justification for this decision, Mr. Ponomarenko explained that many qualified personnel specialists in this field are concentrated there, and there is also the only plant in Russia for the production of lithium-ion batteries.

The details of launching the production itself were also discussed at the conference as well as the details of the complete set of the plant, production lines, stamping, personnel and other issues.
At the end of the conference Mr Ponomarenko addressed to all Russian mass media and asked for information support in the development of this project, by building a constructive dialogue with its press center.

Alexey Ponomarenko:
"We really love our country. We invest our personal funds in the development of a high-tech mass product in this country. We want to create production here, stay here to work and live.
We hope that after we create this product at our own expense, pass all the necessary tests and trials, the Government of the Russian Federation and state funds will pay attention to us, and you, the media, will also pay attention to this issue, and together we will create MONARCH -the new Russian high-tech car.