A branded automotive portal with early community features

In 2005, we launched Autobot.Ru, an automotive portal built as a branded online presence for our own transport company, Legion.

While its business role was to generate leads for towing and transport services, the site was styled as a full-scale Web 2.0 news and community portal.

Features and highlights

🚗 Automotive and motorsport news portal, tied to Legion brand services.
🗂️ Full CMS integration: unified accounts for news comments, forums, and content submissions.
👥 Community-driven publishing — users could submit their own articles and materials.
💬 Active forums and discussions built on the same database as the site.
🔗 Mix of media content: news, statistics, useful links, and interactive sections.
⏳ Operated for three years, until the company exited the automotive business.

Why it mattered

Autobot.Ru was more than just a branded website — it was the moment we started implementing the first elements of what would later become our community engine.

By allowing users to publish content and interact beyond forums, the project introduced the DNA of user-generated media into our CMS.

👉 This was the first project where our CMS began evolving into a true community engine.