Minister says car production in Russia begins to recover

YEKATERINBURG, Jul 5 (PRIME) -- Russia’s car production begins to recover, the worst point has already passed in May, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told PRIME on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Innoprom-2022 exhibition.

“We assume that as AvtoVAZ's production capacity recovers, new cars appear at Motorinvest, Moskvich cars at Avtoframos and so on, more and more new cars will be gradually brought to the market,” he said.

According to the Federal State Statistics Service, car production plummeted by 96.7% on the year to 3,720 units in May and by 56.4% on the year to 268,000 units in January–May.

Manturov also said that the situation with car prices will stabilize as there are no reasons for sharp price increases and they will be slightly declining during the year.

The prices have not drop significantly yet because of inertia related to purchased materials and components, he said.

“The car production cycle takes about three to four months, so what was purchased in January, February and March is now entering the market. … The exchange rate in February … differs significantly (from today). The companies will gradually "stretch" the price change over the year to avoid losses, taking into account gradual recovery of the market,” he said.

Manturov said in late June that the prices of new local and imported cars increased by 25–30% since January.

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