Page 102 - Russia OUTLOOK 2023

AvtoVaz’s Lada Granta, which remains the only domestically assembled model
on the Russian market, sold nearly twice as well as a year earlier and with
13,000 vehicles sold in November. The model is the only budget offering on
the Russian car market and is also the beneficiary of the preferential car loan
programme.

Chinese Haval remained the top-selling foreign brand, albeit down 7% to 4,500
in November, closely followed by another brand from China, Geely, with sales
up by 24% to 3,500.

Amid an exodus of Western and Japanese carmakers from Russia, Chinese
carmakers are already reportedly hard-pressing Russian dealers into lowering
their purchase prices and also eyeing the takeover of vacant assembly
capacities.

Russian car producer AvtoVAZ expects the Russian passenger car and
light commercial vehicle (LCV) market to shrink to 670,000-700,000 units
in 2022, AEB reports. In January-November, sales of new cars and LCVs in
Russia dropped by 60.9% to 548,900 vehicles, the association said.

According to the Association of European Businesses (AEB), Russia’s car
market amounted to 1.6mn cars and light commercial vehicles in 2021.

AvtoVAZ president Maxim Sokolov said that in 2023 the Russian market
for passenger cars and LCVs will be about 800,000 vehicles, according to
the baseline scenario.

AvtoVAZ plans to export 20,000 vehicles in 2023. Sokolov added that
AvtoVAZ is going to resume export deliveries. According to him, in 2023 the
company will be able to export about 20,000 cars. As he explained, AvtoVAZ is
ready to supply car kits to Kazakhstan, and also plans to enter the markets of
Belarus, the CIS countries and Africa.

President Putin instructed the government to ensure constant control
over formation of prices for cars in order to prevent their unreasonable
increase, the Kremlin said in a statement on its website the same day. “The
government of the Russian Federation: to ensure constant control over the
formation of car prices in order to prevent their unreasonable increase... The
report date is until April 15, 2023, further – quarterly,” the statement read.

Putin also has instructed the government to improve the affordability of
passenger cars for Russians and to determine a target indicator that describes
an increase in such affordability. The report is not expected until April 15, 2023,
and then quarterly.

102 Russia OUTLOOK 2022 www.intellinews.com