Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Company (nnauto.ru) — the site of a Nizhny Novgorod car dealer, in existence from 2004 to 2022[1][4]. Over those years the address changed owners and signboards several times: at first it was the page of OOO Nizhegorodskaya Avtomobilnaya Kompaniya (Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Company), which sold Suzuki, GAZ, KamAZ and ZIL vehicles in Nizhny Novgorod[1], then the site of "NAK — Automobile Holding" with a showroom on Komsomolskoye Highway and a shop on Larina Street[2], later the site of the dealer "InvestAvto" on Gagarin Avenue[3], and in its final years the domain hosted "Avtoportal Nizhny Novgorod" (Auto Portal Nizhny Novgorod) with classified ads and a forum[4].

From GAZ and KamAZ to KIA

In the snapshot of November 2004 the site represented OOO Nizhegorodskaya Avtomobilnaya Kompaniya, which, as the home page stated, had already been in the car business for more than eight years[1]. The catalogue was broken down by make: Suzuki, PAZ, KamAZ, ZIL, truck-mounted cranes, GAZ — that is, alongside the Japanese off-roader the showcase held buses, dump trucks and special-purpose machinery[1]. The company offered sales on credit and by leasing, insurance, vehicle registration and delivery of cars across Russia, while its own service station took on engine diagnostics, suspension repair, body repair, painting and tuning[1]. The news items on the home page were dated 5 November 2004: the Freestyle trim level for the Suzuki Grand Vitara and season's greetings to customers ahead of the holidays[1].

By August 2007 the site was called "NAK — Automobile Holding", and the truck part of the catalogue had disappeared: only Suzuki, Mazda and KIA remained[2]. The home page was taken up by a price list for Korean cars — the Picanto from 279,000 rubles, the Spectra from 333,000, the Rio from 399,000, the Cerato from 432,000, the Carens from 636,000, the Sportage from 669,000, the Sorento and the Opirus from 820,000, the Carnival from 983,750 rubles[2]. A separate block listed the services of the technical center: computerized wheel alignment, injector flushing, an air-conditioning recharging rig, wheel rim straightening, soundproofing, window tinting, alarm installation[2]. The wholesale and retail spare parts shop was located at 7/3 Larina Street, telephones (8312) 275-83-43 and 413-28-82; the car showroom stood at 7b Komsomolskoye Highway, telephones (8312) 275-75-85 and 413-84-13[2]. The page ended with a promise set in capitals — "DOING BUSINESS WITH US IS RELIABLE AND WILL BE PROFITABLE FOR YOU!"[2].

The poll on the home page and a place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

Both early versions of the site kept one and the same poll in a prominent spot — "How did you hear about us?" with the options "Advertising in the press", "Advertising on TV", "From acquaintances", "Internet", "Billboards" and the jocular "No idea, why are you pestering me"[1][2]. In November 2004, 36 people had voted in it, by August 2007 — 774; in both readings the fourth option led by a wide margin, with 52 and 62 percent respectively[1][2]. By 2007 a local item had appeared in the list of answers — "The street banner on Gagarin Avenue", that very piece of outdoor advertising strung above a Nizhny Novgorod street[2]. In the same place, in the footer, other people's links sat side by side: games for the SAMSUNG SGH-E880 phone, approval of apartment redevelopment plans, an active advertising system and an email newsletter service — the ordinary mid-2000s exchange of links for the sake of search rankings[2].

The site's visibility in the Nizhny Novgorod Internet is hard to measure: in the data of the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating, nnauto.ru has neither a numerical Counter.nn.ru figure nor any votes. It entered our census through the entry lists of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day contest of 2004, where not a single vote is recorded for it[5]. In other words, the site was noticed by the regional community just enough to end up on the list of participants, but it took no prize.

"InvestAvto" and the Chinese makes

By October 2013 the domain carried the site of a different company — "InvestAvto", the official dealer of Chery, Suzuki, SEAT, TAGAZ and Chance in Nizhny Novgorod[3]. The model range reflected the change of era: next to the Suzuki Grand Vitara, Swift and Jimny stood the Chery Kimo, Very, Bonus, Indis and Tiggo, the ZAZ Chance and Vida, the Uz-Daewoo Matiz and Nexia[3]. The second line of business was commercial vehicles by IVECO, BAW and Hyundai, including municipal service machines, hydraulic lifts, cranes and trailers[3]. The menu had unfolded into the full structure of a service business: service booking, automatic transmission repair, a body repair center with a "What to do in an accident?" section, remote claims settlement, an anti-corrosion center, an online spare parts shop[3]. The showroom was located at 121B Gagarin Avenue; a separate mention went to the "CHERY CENTER Prioksky", where in the autumn of 2013 the updated Chery Tiggo and M11 appeared[3]. The news and special offers on the home page were fresh, the latest dated 3 October 2013[3].

How it closed

The last substantive web archive snapshot is dated 18 January 2022, and on it this is no longer a dealer's site but "Avtoportal Nizhny Novgorod" — a forum, classified ads and news with the sections "Articles", "Car reviews", "Test drive", "Tuning", "Sports cars", "Concept cars", "Car services", "Video" and "Map"[4]. The feed of new listings held Nizhny Novgorod cars: a 1997 Opel Tigra for 110,000 rubles, a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander for 1,100,000, a 2013 Chevrolet Niva for 405,000[4]. Part of the portal's content had meanwhile been inherited from the domain's previous owner — among the car reviews hung texts about a Chery clearance sale and the Kimo and IndiS models[4].

According to our census the domain is considered dead: the site's lifespan runs from 2004 to 2022, and since 2024 nnauto.ru has been recorded as parked, with no substantive page there any longer. Eighteen years of a single address turned out to be the history of three different enterprises, and today it can be traced only through snapshots of the home page.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2007 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2013 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Home page, 2022 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day voting results, 2004 (archive)