On March 3, 2022, only 55% of the capacities for the production of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCV) from those that were loaded in 2021 continued to operate in Russia, Vedomosti calculated.
In total, in 2021, Russians bought 1.67 million cars and LCVs, according to data from the Association of European Businesses (AEB). According to Vedomosti’s calculations, based on vehicle registrations, about 83% of sales, or 1.39 million vehicles, came from domestic production. The total capacity of automobile plants allows the production of about 2.7 million passenger cars and LCVs in Russia per year. But in 2021, car factories could not meet demand due to a shortage of microchips. This, in particular, led to the fact that the cars did not stay in the warehouses of dealers, but immediately left for buyers.