AvtoVAZ and KAMAZ have adapted to the conditions of sanctions and are emerging from the crisis

Russian automakers were able to bring their enterprises out of the crisis thanks to support from the government and are now making new, far-reaching plans for the development and expansion of production.

Participants of the Eastern Economic Forum spoke about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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Discussing how the sanctions policy affected the AvtoVAZ company, company president Maxim Sokolov told listeners about the end of the most acute crisis period in production and also shared the company’s plans for the future.

“Now this period (crisis - editor's note), one might say, is ending. And if we talk about a specific moment, we can really say that we have passed the most acute phase of this crisis.

At the beginning of June this year, AvtoVAZ, after a long period of downtime and first switching to a 4-day work week, managed to restore production. Production of Lada Granta, in July production of Niva, its classic model, Niva - a legend. Well, in mid-August we restored the production of Niva Travel, simultaneously collecting a certain amount of this popular model, including Largus.

AvtoVAZ has already passed this acute phase of the crisis, despite the fact that the whole thing is a phenomenon with disruption of supply chains, shortages, not even shortages, but blocking of supplies of components and much more. We managed to stabilize the situation. On a daily basis, the AvtoVAZ team, for which, as they say, great respect, this team spirit, attitude, monitors hundreds of components that are at risk, and not only because of being included in certain sanctions lists, but also in general There is a wary attitude towards business in Russia today on the part of global companies whose headquarters are based in unfriendly states, and those risks still remain.

But I am sure that we, together with the support of our line ministry, the government of the Russian Federation, and at the regional level, constantly feel this support. All these difficulties will ultimately be overcome, and today AvtoVAZ is moving from this first, newest phase in its history of overcoming the crisis to the stage of increasing production and production volumes. Restoration of the model range, configuration.

Already now, at the end of summer, we managed to achieve the restoration of such vehicle equipment options as an airbag, air conditioning, radio, and ERA-GLONASS button. Next in line is the restoration of the ABS function, and, probably, in about a year, maybe a little more - the functions of supporting vehicle stability, and the restoration of variations of car engines, including the 16-valve one. This is the task for literally next year.

In addition, our board of directors has set an ambitious goal for our team for the next year - to achieve the production level of 500 thousand cars to meet demand, and in full volume of our highly localized domestic cars, and, of course, now we are fully preparing for this. Assessments of our production capacity, from modifications, reconstruction in order to ensure the fulfillment of this task.

“We plan to resolve all issues regarding the localization of sanctioned components blocked today and launch this production at the site of the Tolyatti plant, ensuring a conveyor speed for the Lada Vesta of 60 cars per hour,” he said.

Sokolov also noted that thanks to the support of the government, including the regional one, AvtoVAZ employees began to receive an average increase in wages compared to the last half of the year.

“In fact, I really want to thank our relevant ministry. And the entire government as a whole. For those support programs that were implemented during the most difficult period. This includes employment support. In fact, we managed not only to retain the staff of our enterprise, at least at the Tolyatti site, in full, but also increased wages by almost 9%. In nominal terms, as I said, for a simple week and a 4-day working week, the average salary for the first half of the year even increased by 3.4% compared to last year. And, of course, those employment support programs played a big role, including at the regional level,” Sokolov reported.

In turn, Managing Director of InfraVEB JSC Alexander Turkov noted that our manufacturers of special and freight transport are also making great progress. In particular, KAMAZ has greatly pushed Chinese manufacturers out of the truck market and is creating serious competition for European manufacturers.

“It is impossible not to say that for a number of types of equipment our manufacturers were able to achieve both high quality and an appropriate level of service. In general, the products are very competitive. It displaces Chinese analogues from the market and even competes successfully with Europeans in certain segments. This is understandable; our giants, in particular KAMAZ, are pursuing quite successful policies in this direction. In general, we managed to take a leading position in dump trucks on a rigid base, Russian equipment. We feel good about motor graders and other types of equipment too,” he said.