Luk Oil stations are popping up everywhere, and here is a picture of one between Kirov and Orlof, with Natasha’s dad’s car – a 1997 Opel Omega, bought used with 100,000 in Germany, a very good car for Russia – in the scene. Russian officials are putting heavy duties on such used cars from abroad, however, in a desire to help Russian auto companies. Russian companies are also forming partnerships with western auto firms like Chevy, Volkswagen, and others. Russian cars are really showing some improvement too – their quality is still below western standards, but styling and design has become competitive, and as Russian plants are rebuilt, quality is likely to improve. The second photo is of a new Russian Lada mini-SUV. It costs about $6000 (this one was $8000 with a lot of extras), and seems to be a pretty good quality vehicle. Compared to the old little Russian cars still zooming around, it’s a qualitative improvement. Russians hope to increase their per capita car ownership levels dramatically in coming years, and already they’re making progress. High oil prices have helped the Russian economy tremendously, and at least in some areas it shows.