Taliban unveils what it claims is Afghanistan’s first ‘supercar’

Mada 9 reportedly dubbed ‘the country’s equivalent to the Bugatti’

In this picture taken on 23 November, 2021, Taliban fighters ride on bumper cars, while they visit a small amusement park in Herat city, Herat (Getty Images)

A Taliban spokesperson has shared a video of what is purported to be Afghanistan’s first ever “supercar”.

The Mada 9 car, which uses a modified engine from a 2000 Toyota Corolla, was built by engineers and designers from the Afghanistan Technical Vocational Institute (ATVI), according to local news site Tolo News.

“The speciality that this car has is that it has been made in Afghanistan and no such car has been created in the world,” Ghulam Haidar Shuhamat, head of ATVI, told Tolo News.

“Afghanistan has been a country known for wars and conflicts and misery but now such a vehicle has been made here. Second, it has a unique design. Third, it is firmed and lightweight.”

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid shared a video on Twitter on Sunday of the sports car driving in the snow.

It is unclear what the technical specifications of the car are, and its creators say it remains in development.

Another video of the vehicle shows the Mada 9 doing a wheel spin on tarmac before driving away.

A caption on the video describes the Mada 9 as “Afghanistan’s very own supercar”, claiming it has been dubbed “the country’s equivalent to the Bugatti”.

Mada 9 designer Riza Ahmadi told Tolo News that he hoped the vehicle would help change the image of his country.

“This car will be an ambassador and will drive across Afghanistan and convey the value of knowledge to the people,” he said.

Entop Auto Studio, the company that financed the car, said it hopes to display the Mada 9 at the Expo 2023 trade show in Doha, Qatar later this year.