2023-06-13 16:00:05
The Ministry of Industry and Trade supported the idea to revive the Oka brand, the head of the department, Denis Manturov, said on June 13.
“We will do our best to support those colleagues from the automotive industry who come up with such proposals, we are ready to consider such an issue promptly,” Manturov said.
Considering the resumption of production of Moskvich and the appearance of the Volga in the near future, the idea of reviving the Oka was expected, says auto expert Yuri Uryukov.
In Russia, Chinese cars are treated with suspicion, so Chinese technologies are being tried to “cover” with domestic brands in order to increase their popularity and increase sales, he notes.
According to Uryukov, one should not expect excessive demand for the new Oka model, however, with a well-thought-out pricing policy, buyers for such a car in Russia can be found.
“bulk buy [«Оку»] they won’t run <…> However, if the price offer is at the level of AvtoVAZ, then [«Ока»] can compete in the market. If the value proposition is at the level of average Chinese cars, then it will be difficult to compete for a buyer,” Uryukov believes.
Vice President of the National Automobile Union Anton Shaparin considers the revival of the Oka inappropriate. In his opinion, the car remained in the people’s memory as a synonym for hopelessness, and its owners are perceived as “heroes of jokes.” “The cheapest car, the most unreliable, the most dangerous in an accident,” Shaparin says about Oka.
He also expressed doubt that the Chinese partners, having studied the history and quality of the Oka, would want to be associated with this “horror on wheels.”
Shaparin recalled that Moskvich, restarted at the end of 2022, is still hardly popular with buyers. Moskvich was sold on an industrial scale for carsharing. There are very few consumers for such a machine. The main one is the corporate segment,” he summed up.
The production of Moskvich resumed at the former Renault plant on November 23, 2022. The first new MAZ model was the Moskvich 3 crossover.
The appearance of “Moskvich 3” and its technical characteristics completely repeat the Chinese crossover JAC JS4. The car is equipped with a 1.5 liter petrol turbo engine with a capacity of 150 hp. With. and is available in five colors – white, black, grey, red and blue. Sales of Moskvich 3 began on March 3, 2023 in 23 cities of Russia.
In February 2023, 57 cars were sold, in March – 375. By April, the figure reached 969 cars, of which 513 were purchased by individuals.
In early April, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced that MAZ had signed a major contract for the supply of Moskvich 3 for the Yandex car sharing service.
The production of the Oka was stopped in November 2008. The car could not compete in the modern car market, it did not fit into the Euro-2 environmental standards. As a result, its production was recognized as unprofitable. For 20 years at the factories “VAZ”, “KAMAZ“and” SeAZ “was produced 700,000 minicars” Oka “in various modifications.
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