Russian Auto Industry

Most of the time there is a shift from one thing to another there are huge problems... to shift from fossil fuel to electric requires a complete change in infrastructure but th catch is that there are not enough people buying electric vehicles to require that infrastructure to be put in place and of course people wont buy electric vehicles because the support and infrastructure is not there yet.

Ironically here in New Zealand there is a road tax added to fuel purchases that pays for the upkeep of the roads, so we are going to have problems if everyone transitions to electric vehicles... no one will be paying road tax so who will be paying for road upkeep and how?

Equally important is that after a few years of owning a new car you can sell it again for good money you can use to put towards your next new car, but with electric most of the value is in the battery and when it has had it who will buy a car that needs a new battery straight away?

Recycling or reconditioning batteries needs to be a thing.

Other problems include a flat battery in a normal car you can jump start the thing and probably limp home, but with an electric vehicle it might take a few hours to get enough charge into the battery to reach home.

The risk of fire on a ship carrying large numbers of cars was always there but with electric cars the risks massively increase because the car batteries are volatile and shall we say energetic.

Technology will solve the problems as they come up but most problems can be predicted so having battery production and processing and recycling capacity is obviously worth investing in, and new technologies and materials for batteries and electric motors and components makes good sense... all electric vehicles makes sense with a future where add on motors and batteries to supply power is just going to be normal.

https://www.rt.com/business/581573-germany-automakers-disconnect-russia/

More German auto giants abandoning Russian customers – media

The move by BMW and Audi follows a similar decision made by Mercedes-Benz

German car giants BMW and Audi have completely disconnected Russian dealers from their software, Izvestia daily reported on Monday, citing several car traders.

The service division of Borishoff, one of Russia’s biggest car-trading companies, confirmed the disconnection. It said the move prevents the dealership from making duplicate keys, as well as presenting “some other challenges.” It is currently unknown whether dealers will be able to analyze vehicle faults.

Another major auto dealer, Avtodom, told the media that BMW’s online services were currently being accessed via “additional redundant channels.”

According to one of the Audi dealerships cited by Izvestia, access to the company’s software had been limited for two months, triggering a number of problems programming duplicate keys, as well as installing spare parts that “require programming, including control units, gearbox, parking sensors and others.”

Earlier this month, Mercedes-Benz suspended access to its online systems used for maintenance and the identification of problems. The automaker halted production operations in Russia in early March 2022. Later, the company announced that it would divest from Russia, under pressure from Western sanctions which jeopardized the future of its business operations.

BMW also stopped local production and exports of vehicles to the Russian market in March last year.

The Volkswagen Group (VW), which sells passenger cars under a wide range of internationally known brands including Audi, suspended operations in Russia last year after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. The world’s second-biggest car company halted production in Kaluga last March and shut down vehicle assembly at a plant in Nizhny Novgorod.

Earlier this year, VW announced it had completed the sale of its business in Russia to local auto dealer group Avilon as part of its exit from the country.

Serial production of "Moskvich 6" has begun. What expensive equipment is equipped with, by Sergey Bulanov for Avtopark. 09.04.2023.

Mass production of the sixth model, the C-class liftback, began at the Moskvich plant. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and General Director of PJSC KAMAZ Sergei Kogogin announced the start of the mass assembly.

"Moskvich 6" is equipped with a 1.5-liter turbocharged engine, configurations with CVT and DCT transmissions are possible, power - 136 and 174 hp. In the combined cycle, fuel consumption is about 8 liters per 100 km.

“It turned out to be a very dynamic car with an economical engine,” says Maxim Klyushkin, project manager of the plant. “An excellent acceleration indicator - the car will reach a speed of 100 km/h in just 8 seconds.”

Expensive configurations of a new domestic car are equipped with a 360-degree camera and a panoramic electric sunroof.

The maximum speed of the new car is 170 km/h. The liftback is designed for five passengers, including the driver. However, the rear rows of seats fold down, and this allows you to increase the volume of the trunk by about four times. “This is the peculiarity of the body,” notes Anatoly Kalitsev, an expert on the product of the Moskvich plant. “In the liftback, the rear door rises along with the glass, this gives us a good large opening to a good large trunk - 540 liters are added to its volume.”

The plant declares three complete sets - "Standard", "Comfort" and "Prestige". They will differ in some exterior details, such as wheel sizes, as well as additional options. For example, the base includes an audio system, air conditioning and a multimedia screen. It has the ability to connect to smartphones via Apple CarPlay and Android Auto protocols. All options will have smart safety systems: cruise control, which is set to maintain a constant speed, anti-lock braking, hill start assist, anti-skid system and many other useful features.

In more prestigious trim levels, air conditioning has been replaced by climate control, where everything is regulated without the participation of the driver. The most interesting details of expensive variations are 360-degree cameras and a panoramic electric sunroof, which, by the way, is also in Moskvich 3. "The interior is also well equipped," Anatoly Kalitsev continues, demonstrating a feature of the interior, a display on the control panel.

Screen diagonal - more than 10 inches. With it, you can control the main systems of the car, turn on ventilation, and set a number of settings. For example, set any of the three levels of steering sensitivity, get data on tire pressure," adds Anatoly Kalitsev.

Four cameras are installed along the perimeter of the body. The image from them is transferred to the screen. On the right side of the screen, a top view of the Moskvich is displayed - the on-board computer combines individual images into a single 3D picture.

Thanks to this functionality, maneuvering in tight streets or in the courtyard of the house will be not only comfortable, but also safe.

Future buyers of the car "Moskvich 6" will be able to choose one of five colors: white, red, blue, gray and black.

According to its characteristics, "Moskvich 6" is included in the same segment with such popular foreign cars as Hyundai Elantra, Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla. On the one hand, a Moscow car can beat them in price: according to experts, the sixth model will cost around 2 million rubles, while competitors will cost hundreds of thousands more.

The sixth "Moskvich" can gain popularity both in carsharing and among young families with children. The first sales of the new car will begin in October.

At the same time, several Chinese models from BAIC, FAW, Chery enter the Russian market in the same segment. They may be cheaper, but not as powerful as Moskvich. The plant believes that the new car will be in high demand in taxi car sharing, most likely it will occupy the "Comfort +" niche. Among private potential buyers, spouses with children can pay attention to the sixth model: the car is great for urban family trips. According to Sergei Sobyanin, sales will begin at the end of October.

I note that while this "Moskvich" is not completely our development, it is an adapted copy of one of the popular JAC models. However, the city authorities believe that the enterprise, after the departure of the former Renault operators, has already fully recovered its feet.

“The year of Moskvich’s struggle for survival showed that the plant is winning,” said Sergei Sobyanin. “A year ago, there were empty workshops here! Now 26,000 cars have already been produced, we have gone through a period of changes in all logistics. New configurations, new technologies, new machines . Overcame sanctions pressure and competition from other manufacturers."

At Moskvich, cars are still assembled from large units. At the next stage, the plant will switch to small components, while the share of Russian spare parts will gradually increase to a maximum. In addition, the plant is preparing to start assembling the new Moskvich 5 and Moskvich 8 crossovers.

26 cars have been produced at the Moskvich plant since the restart of production.

In parallel, the company continues to work on creating its own technological platform. It is expected that in 2025 Moskvich will launch the production of a completely domestic car in both gasoline and electric versions. Right now the plant is preparing for the transition to the next stage of modernization. At the end of the year, small-scale assembly will begin, the plant will also assemble power units and brake systems. The share of Russian components will reach an absolute maximum.

In total, since the restart of production at the Moskvich plant, more than 26,000 cars have been produced. Of these, 3.5 thousand are electric crossovers, the rest are gasoline. Approximately 10 thousand cars have already been delivered to dealerships throughout Russia. In 25 largest cities of the country, including St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Izhevsk, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Naberezhnye Chelny, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Simferopol, 55 Moskvich showrooms successfully operate: they sell and service cars. This year, dealerships will open in 34 more cities.

Now "Moskvich" confidently takes fourth place in sales of crossovers. Moskvich cars are also actively used in car sharing services. In addition, they are located in the parks of federal and city departments, including the Ministry of Health of Russia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the Russian Guard, the Federal Penitentiary Service, Rosreestr, the Center for Traffic Management, the State Institution "Administrator of the Moscow Parking Space".

https://rg.ru/2023/09/04/pervye-shestye.html

They decided to transfer officials to Lada Aura, by Alexey Degtyarev for VZGLYAD. 09.14.2023.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade announced plans to purchase Lada Aura for officials.

For the needs of Russian civil servants, it is planned to purchase Lada Aura cars, which should be produced at Avtovaz in the second half of 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Trade reported.

The issue of purchasing or renting cars when planning transport services is already in the works, the department’s press service reported, TASS reports .

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has tasked the responsible departments to take into account Avtovaz’s capabilities in supplying Lada Aura; the company expects to begin production of these cars in the second half of 2024.

Previously, President Vladimir Putin indicated that domestic cars may look more modest than Mercedes, but officials need to use them and follow the example of India, where they drive domestic cars.

Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Viktor Evtukhov noted that the president’s order to replace cars for officials will be carried out unquestioningly.

https://vz.ru/news/2023/9/14/1230494.html

https://www.rt.com/russia/583179-russia-mps-cars-domestic/

Russian MPs to ditch foreign cars

Members of the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, will completely switch to domestically produced cars at work. The change was described as a way to boost the country’s automotive companies.

“It was decided that, starting next year, the legislators in their constituencies will be equipped only with vehicles manufactured in Russia,” the 450-seat chamber said Monday in a statement on its website. It added that the Duma’s Council adopted the decision unanimously.

Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin was quoted as saying the move would “help the development of the Russian automotive industry, while state funds will remain in the country.”

In August, President Vladimir Putin said it would be right for “all officials to use domestically made cars,” adding that officials should promote “national brands,” including vehicles.

Given that Russia has basically been able to acquire the BMW and Merc plants etc, currently free of charge (just offset against thefts by NATO), I wonder why they don't just rebadge and modify those designs? Unless they think they are shit?

The Delimobil car-sharing service has its eye on the domestic electric crossover Atom. The car, we recall, will be released only in 2025, but Delimobil is already considering the possibility of purchasing a very large the number of "Atoms" - 25 thousand pieces!

In the future, Delimobil is considering the possibility of purchase 25,<> Atom electric vehicles for use in own fleet of vehicles.
Delimobil
And these are not empty words: the company plans to advise Atom developers in terms of functions that are in demand among users car sharing.

In an interview with Interfax on May 25 last year, Vincenzo Trani, the founder of Delimobil said that the car-sharing fleet exceeds 20 thousand units Car. It turns out that if Delimobil buys 25 thousand Atoms, then they Either completely or almost completely replace the cars from the current fleet Company.


Atom also said if demand gets high enough that contract assembly at Moskvitch can't cope - they will open a 2nd line in Tartarstan near the Kamaz plant.

on that 2025 "our own petrol car" - that is not very believable .... unless he is intending to share platforms with Lada
which would be pragmatic re components - but what would you achieve ?
just wasting production engineer's time who will be busy setting up the Atom electric car assembly line

the other item the Lada Aura with the stretched wheelbase - for govt officials
that looks to me to be a very clever way to get lots of field data on a stretched platform
that they intend to make a future crossover/SUV or a Lada Largus replacement on
more going on there than meets the eye I suspect

Because most probably they were only doing assembly there and the vast majority of components in those cars were imported.

Well if they are for assembling cars then let them continue, but with Russian cars or Chinese cars or Iranian cars or Indian cars... under licence of course...

Russian cars to be produced in Africa, 09.27.2023.

Ethiopia is set to open a factory to assemble Lada automobiles, the country’s ambassador to Moscow has said.

Ethiopia is planning to open a production line to assemble Russian Lada cars for the African market, the country’s ambassador to Russia, Cham Ugala Uriat, told the TASS news agency on Tuesday.   
The diplomat noted that the cars will be manufactured in Ethiopia and may be shipped onward to other African countries such as Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, and Somalia.

“We will see Russian Lada cars in the neighboring countries in the near future as they [Avtovaz] have already signed a contract with an Ethiopian company,” he explained. Lada, which remains the top-selling brand in Russia, makes a range of SUV models suitable for the African market.

The development comes as Ethiopia is set to join the BRICS group of emerging economies – which currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – along with fellow newcomers Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The new memberships will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Economists expect Ethiopia’s entry into BRICS to boost its economic growth. The East African country boasts one of the fastest growing economies on the continent and has a burgeoning middle class.  

Meanwhile, its low manufacturing cost base could help keep costs down for Russian carmakers while also providing access to the developing African market.    

According to the envoy, other Russian automakers “are showing interest to go to Ethiopia for the construction of assembly lines.” Two other Russian car manufacturers are currently in talks with Ethiopia about doing so, he revealed.

https://www.rt.com/africa/583632-ethiopia-russian-car-production/

Same overpriced EV racket as in the west.

Those lithium-ion batteries must be as expensive as gold.

While reopening a factory is a positive development, splurging money on subsidizing Chinese electric car is not the best situation. That money can be spent better elsewhere.
Moskvich would be fine with building ICE vehicles, as well.

They have to start with something. Given the short time span between Renault leaving the factory and today, there is little else they could do to keep the work force employed. Localization will improve with time.

Most of these factories assembling foreign cars were building with high content of foreign parts to begin with. At best the metal body and chassis was made in Russia. Only a couple of companies like Hyundai were assembling engines and making some engine parts in Russia.

The Russian government has tax incentives in place which will ensure more Russian content will be added. But it will take time for native content to increase.

The fact that AutoVAZ i.e. Lada has managed to get back to pre-SMO car production numbers is by itself significant.

These companies making foreign cars will take more time to be converted.

In this particular case, considering that factory is located in Moscow and all activity with import substitution that is going on rn, even if factory was closed , 4400 workers would be picked up and retrained in a mater of few months by other companies.
As for localization, you're right to a certain degree, since they spoke about it when factory reopened. It is supposed to hit about 30% in several years down the road. That is why building ICE only vehicles was better and cheaper option for Russian government and taxpayers. Between one time payment for EV purchase and subsidized low interest rate, you end up paying for roughly third of an imported consumer product.

An over 70% markup for EV vs gasoline can never be justified by manufacturing costs. Never.

The EV Moskvich is about US $38,000 compared to US $22,000 for the gasoline model. Both models are made on the same assembly line and have the identical uni-body. Electric motors are not more expensive than gasoline motors. They are much cheaper to make in fact. There is nowhere near $16,000 of electronics in any car. That leaves marketing since the battery pack is not accounting for the price difference.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1272-january-9-2023-electric-vehicle-battery-pack-costs-2022-are-nearly

I have not seen any evidence of EV prices dropping to reflect the battery pack price drop.

The high cost for EV is gotta be marketing and fact that it is lower production rate.

Over time it will go down in price, especially with more localization of parts production.

How much of the vehicle is made in Russia as is rather than what used to be the case before?

This is good sensible news... the battery and the electric motors are the technologies that are transferable to everything else from bikes and motor scooters and vans to trucks and busses and trains and aircraft, to electronic devices for the batteries.

Being able to take worn out old batteries and extract the valuable elements from them to make new batteries is very very very important but most countries simply ignore this and don't understand why batteries don't get cheaper...

They talk about running out of Lithium, but the lithium in old dead batteries is still lithium... it might need some processing to make it useful again, but processing it and making it useful again is part of the recycling BS the greenies have been going on about for decades.

I can see a trade in used car batteries from Europe being taken to Kaliningrad for dumping... but instead of being stupid Russians and putting them in land fill they take money from the EU to dispose of their "waste" and then reprocess it and put it into Chinese cars to sell the the EU or the rest of the world.

They already do it with Uranium...

KAMAZ K5 truck production has surpassed pre-sanctions levels.

KAMAZ increased production of K5 generation trucks
October 27, 2023


Based on the results of three quarters of this year, KAMAZ produced more than 3 thousand fifth-generation trucks - KAMAZ-54901 tractors, which is 2.5 times higher than the volume of their production for the same period last year.

The company’s report for 9 months noted that in January-September 2022, 1.15 thousand K5 trucks were produced. According to production statistics, the production of the flagship KAMAZ-54901 tractors continues to gain momentum: if we compare the results only for September month-on-month, then the production of new vehicles has increased fourfold - from 150 to 600 units.

In the last month before the introduction of Western economic sanctions against Russia - that is, in February last year - the company launched 407 KAMAZ-54901 trucks onto the market.

https://kamaz.ru/press/releases/kamaz_narastil_vypusk_gruzovikov_pokoleniya_k5/

LADA in 2023 has surpassed its 2021 pre-sanctions vehicle sales in Tatarstan.
The Chinese have "eaten" the sales of European and Japanese cars.


Most popular LADA models in Tatarstan:


Looks like Lada Vesta production also recovered since they are selling them. But the crossovers were still basically not available.