Foreign car manufacturers have already suspended the sales in Russia. The newspaper reports it Knowledgeaccording to which they would have already written to the dealers announcing the decision either Audi is General Motors. Those of would also be imminent Volkswagenfrom its Commercial Vehicles division and the subsidiary Skoda. The British Land Roverowned by the Indian Tatastopped the shipments and would have done the same Porsche.
It’s been just three years since Vladimir Putin “Chirped” with Dieter Zetsche, at the time still number one of Mercedes, and Peter Altmaier, very loyal to Angela Merkel and Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy. It was 2019 when the “tsar” attended the inauguration of the plant Moscow, near the capital, which had rained 215 million euros for the local production of the most popular models in the country: E-Class, GLC, GLE and GLS. The Minister of Industry and Commerce Denis Manturov welcomed a new car manufacturer setting up in the country, whose market had touched 2.8 million units in previous years. The sales they had collapsed even before the pandemic, although last year they had risen to 1.67 million. Further growth was estimated for 2022, but the invasion of Ukraine has opened up new scenarios.
Yesterday the European Union launched a first crackdown, which also the car manufacturers and Western industry expected. “These sanctions – he warned Ursula von der Leyen, the German leader of the European Commission – will increase Russia’s financial burdens, raise inflation and gradually erode the Russian industrial base ”. The president of the German industrialists, Siegfried Russwurm, explained that it is natural that the retaliation they also cost businesses, but he has already admitted that it is too early to say what effect they will have.
Among others, the technological and aviation sectors have been hit, which should undermine the production and logistics capacities of the country. In the field automotive Russian exports estimated from Center of Automotive Management worth just 3.3 billion (not even 50,000 cars), while imports reach 20. The only certain effect identified by the director of the CAM, Stephen Bratzel, is that “for a long time Russia will not be an important sales market and place of production (34 plants, ed) for the automotive industry”. Consultancy firms JD Power and LMC Automotive have already revised down by 400,000 units forecasts on sales for 2022, increased to 85 million.
The first local constructor is Avtovaz, which markets the Lada brand, for which the domestic market is the reference market and absorbs 90% of production. The company is controlled by Renault group through a holding company with the public company Rostec. For Luca De Meo, the Italian CEO of the French company, the game is delicate (2.85 billion in turnover in 2021) and important: Russia is the group’s second market. “We are checking all the components piece by piece, even if it makes a difference if they come from Germany, the United States or China”, he explained in recent days to Financial Times.
The necessity of components from abroad it is 20% in the Avtovaz factory in Togliatti and 40% in the Renault site near Moscow. For next week the Losanga manufacturer has already announced the suspension of production due to the lack of components. There are 35,000 employees in the country. With Lada and together with members of the Nissan and Mitsubishi Alliance, Renault has 38% (over 570,000 cars) of the market with 12 cars in the Top 25, including the first, the Vesta. Then there are the Koreans of Hyundai and Kia with 380,000.
There is also in the Russian grip Stellantis, which has a plant resulting from a joint-venture between PSA and Mitsubishi. The second European group had announced a month ago that it wanted to export the Peugeot, Citroen and Opel vans assembled in the country to Europe: the plan is destined to skip. Carlos Tavaresthe number one, spoke of a “complement” production, amounting to just 10,000 vehicles.
The Volkswagen group it has spent at least 2 billion euros in Russia, where it employs around 4,000 people and has a 12% share. BMW is the first premium brand in the country (47,000 cars), where it has, however, given up its own establishment. Then there is Mercedes (45,000) with a thousand workers in Muscovy. The interests of the three German groups are almost marginal in the country given that they are worth around 2% of the total volumes. American Ford withdrew from the Russian auto market in 2019 and certainly does not regret the decision today. Through Sollers it remained in charge of the commercial vehicle segment.