Due to the difficult situation “by all indicators”, the German brand Audi stops shipping cars to Russian dealerships from February 24, follows from a letter from the automaker to Russian partners. Vedomosti got acquainted with the document.
Cars that have passed Russian customs and are scheduled for shipment from the importer’s warehouse will be sent to the address of dealerships according to previously generated documents, the company writes. Audi is going to inform customers about the resumption of shipments and pricing conditions.
A similar letter also came from the American concern General Motors (GM, which sells Chevrolet cars in Russia), sources in leasing companies told Vedomosti. Messages of similar content are also expected from Volkswagen (VW), its Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles division, the Czech Skoda (owned by Volkswagen), one of Vedomosti’s interlocutors knows. Another source says that the British Land Rover (owned by the Indian Tata Motors) has also completed shipments, and only those cars that were already on the way by February 24 will enter the Russian market. The situation is similar with the German brand Porsche.
The representative of the Volkswagen Group in Russia (there, in addition to VW itself, includes Audi, Skoda, Porsche) did not answer questions from Vedomosti. It was not possible to contact representatives of GM and Jaguar Land Rover by the time the material was submitted.
On the morning of February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR), whose sovereignty Russia recognized on February 21, asked for help from the country. As the head of state explained, Russia is not going to occupy Ukraine, but will strive “to demilitarize and denazify” this country.
In addition, on February 24, the official distributor of a number of foreign brands of road construction and special equipment, Rusbiznesavto, notified its partners in Russia that all imported equipment under signed contracts should be fully paid on February 24. We are talking about the products of SDLG, Higer, New Holland and Dieci, follows from the distributor’s letter, which Vedomosti has. New deals on SDLG and Higer have not yet been concluded, new deals on New Holland and Dieci – only in foreign currency and from the assortment available in the warehouse, follows from the document.
At the end of 2021, 1.667 million new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in Russia, according to the data of the Association of European Businesses (AEB). This is 4.3% more than in 2020. Most of them are locally produced. According to the AEB forecast, the market in 2022 should grow by 3.3% to 1.722 million units.
At the end of 2021, the import of new passenger cars of these brands amounted to 37,979 units, according to independent automotive industry consultant Sergey Burgazliev, based on registration data. According to him, this is not much, and if no one else joins those who have already announced the suspension of shipments, then the Russian market may be short of about 40,000 vehicles in 2022.
In addition, several of the largest Russian car dealers told Vedomosti that as of today, Cetelem Bank (part of Sberbank) left only one car loan program in the portfolio and at the highest rate, and also zeroed the commission for dealers. This actually stopped sales under the program of this bank. The representative of Sberbank did not answer the questions of Vedomosti.
At the same time, sales and issuance of cars in the dealerships of Rolf and Avtomir are going on as usual, representatives of the companies told Vedomosti.