artan.nnov.ru — the website of the Nizhny Novgorod company “ARTAN”, the official dealer of the Volkswagen group in Nizhny Novgorod[1]. According to the last surviving version of the site, the car centre stood in Nizhny Novgorod at 59a Yu. Gagarin Avenue[4]. In the web archive the address lived for almost seventeen years: the first snapshot of the home page was taken on 31 March 2001[1], the last snapshot of the working site is dated 20 February 2018, and the latest version examined here belongs to 1 January 2018[4].

The early site: Volkswagen next door to GAZ

Almost nothing has survived from the 2001 snapshot: the web archive preserved the title “ARTAN Company — the official dealer of the Volkswagen group in Nizhny Novgorod” and the service lines meant for search engines[1]. The service description, however, says more about the firm than many a full page: “The Nizhny Novgorod company Artan, the official dealer of the Volkswagen marque, has been working on the Russian car market since 1992”; further on it listed the sale of Volkswagen cars and of domestic ones — GAZ, PAZ, UAZ, KamAZ — as well as “the upgrading of vehicles to a higher level of comfort”[1]. Among the page's keywords stood side by side “Artan”, “Volkswagen”, “car showroom”, “GAZ”, “OAO”[1]. In 2001 the German marque and domestic trucks and buses still shared one list of the firm's occupations. The year 1992 in the dating comes from the same line: it refers to the start of the company's work, not of the site — the address itself has been known from the archive since 2001.

A dealership shop window of the 2010s

By 2011 the site had become a standard dealer one: the top menu led to the sections “Special offers”, “Cars”, “Special-purpose vehicles”, “Service”, “Tuning”, “Financing”, “About the company” and “The World of Volkswagen”[2]. The model list included the Polo and the Polo sedan, the Golf, the Scirocco, the new Passat and the Passat CC, the Tiguan, the new Touareg, the Phaeton, the Multivan GP, Commercial vehicles and used cars[2]. The “Useful information” block gathered news, special offers, service booking, technical consultation with a specialist, used cars, leasing and credit calculators, vacancies and a configurator[2]. A separate box carried the “CarePort services” — “Even more guarantees from Volkswagen for your vehicle fleet”[2].

The tone of the advertising boxes conveys the era: “Artan surprises! A daring offer on the Volkswagen Touareg”, “Scirocco Club Tour. Tear up the night with the Volkswagen Scirocco”, “Volkswagen Polo. Your colour is your drive!”, “Volkswagen Polo. A real gift from the Artan car centre!”[2]. Next to them hung the box “1000 days to the Games”[2]. At the bottom of the page stood the developer's credit — “Website creation by IP3”[2].

In the 2012 snapshot the home page acquired the telephone number (831) 296-00-96 and a price list with the cost of base trim levels: the Polo sedan — from 441,500 roubles, the Polo — from 485,000, the Golf — from 603,000, the Golf Plus — from 612,000, the new Jetta — from 685,000, the Touran — from 862,000, the Tiguan — from 899,000, the Passat — from 910,000, the Scirocco — from 931,000, the Passat Variant — from 980,000, the Passat CC — from 1,109,000, the R-line — from 1,113,000, the Golf GTI — from 1,114,000, the Touareg — from 1,996,000, the Phaeton — from 3,212,000 roubles[3]. At the same time the site ran a section of used cars under the Das WeltAuto programme, and the top line carried the link “Subscribe to the promotions mailing list”[3]. The page footer read “© Volkswagen 2011”[3].

Special-purpose vehicles: from the social taxi to the armoured car

The least typical part for a dealer site was the “Special-purpose vehicles” section. In 2012 it listed the minibuses “City Route”, “Tourist” and “VIP-Tourist”, a made-to-order minibus, cargo-and-passenger vehicles, vans and a flatbed van, an armoured car, an ambulance, buses for funeral services, laboratories, a social taxi and refrigerated vehicles[3]. The list echoes “the upgrading of vehicles to a higher level of comfort” from the 2001 description[1]: the conversion of vehicles to order remained a separate occupation of the firm eleven years later as well. The neighbouring “Service” section offered the servicing of passenger and commercial vehicles, original spare parts and accessories, tuning and servicing for corporate clients[3].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

The site entered the census through the voting results of Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day 2004: in the “Best corporate website” nomination it appears as the line “ARTAN Company” with the address artan.nnov.ru and zero votes[5]. It also had a card in the classified directory Counter.nn.ru — with the description “Official Volkswagen dealer. Sale of Volkswagen cars.” and a zero rating, according to the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. In the Nizhny Novgorod Internet the site, judging by these figures, lived as a company's representation rather than as a venue that gathered an audience.

The last snapshot and the fate of the address

The snapshot of 1 January 2018 shows an entirely different site: a call-back form, the invitation “We will call you back!” and the telephone number 7 831 296 00 96 — the same number that stood on the home page in 2012[3][4]. Across the top of the page ran the links “Models”, “Cars in stock”, “Commercial vehicles”, “For buyers”, “For owners”, “Book a service”, “Book a test drive”, “Configurator”, “Car service.Video”, “News”, “Contacts” and “The World of Volkswagen”[4]. By that time the banners had changed to a calmer tone: “Volkswagen Polo. Warming options and other hot offers”, “The new Volkswagen Tiguan. It parks for those who cannot”, “Volkswagen Passat LIFE. Life in full trim”, “Volkswagen Touareg Wolfsburg Edition. A special advantage”[4].

Over six years the prices had risen markedly: the Polo — from 599,900 roubles instead of the former 485,000, the Tiguan — from 1,349,000 instead of 899,000, the Passat — from 1,499,000 instead of 910,000, the Touareg — from 2,999,000 instead of 1,996,000[3][4]. The same price list carried the Jetta from 1,029,000, the Passat Variant from 1,919,000 and the Passat Alltrack from 2,179,000 roubles[4]. The home page displayed the “First Car” and “Family Car” programmes with a 10% subsidy towards the down payment on a loan, valid until 31 January 2018, and a promotion on autumn tyre fitting[4]. The drop-down list of the feedback form shows how the company was arranged: the passenger car sales department, the customer service, the service department, the spare parts department, the insurance and lending department, the corporate sales department, the tuning department, the body shop, the personnel department, used cars, the corporate department[4].

Beyond that the archival history of the address breaks off: the last snapshot of the working site belongs to 20 February 2018, the years of the project's life are counted in our study as 1992–2018, and since 2022 a domain parking page has stood at artan.nnov.ru.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2011 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2012 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2018 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day voting results, 2004 (archive)