With the Eurozone debt crisis stifling new car
sales, auto manufacturers are looking elsewhere to make up for lost
ground. China may be the world’s largest market but after years of rapid
expansion, it shows signs of slowing down.
New car sales in Russia,
on the other hand, increased last year by 40 percent to more than 2.6
million vehicles. Even though the rate of increase is expected to cool
down, with 2012 sales estimated to be around 2.9 million units, it is
still a very interesting prospect.
Add
to this a research by Sberbank showing that Russia’s middle class has
increased from 1 million in 1999 to between 15 and 30 million, and it’s
easy to understand why AvtoVAZ, which owns Lada, the country’s
top-selling brand, has been such a hot item for some time now.
Renault-Nissan
announced that it has formed a joint venture with Russian Technologies
and sealed a deal to become its new owner, with CEO Carlos Ghosn going
to Moscow to sign the agreement.
“Russia
is poised to become the largest auto market in Europe by 2015”, said
Ghosn during a press conference yesterday. “The market is highly
competitive and all the major foreign automakers already have operations
here. But let’s be clear – we are doing more than building and selling
cars in Russia.”
According to the
terms of the agreement, which will be completed in mid-2014,
Renault-Nissan will invest RUB23 billion (US$ 742 million), gaining
control of 67.13% of the joint venture by mid-2014, with the rest being
held by Russian Technologies. The joint venture will then hold 74.5% of
AVTOVAZ.
Ghosn wants to revive the
Lada brand with technology and expertise provided by Renault-Nissan.
Production targets for Lada, Renault and Nissan vehicles in Russia by
2015 are set to around 1.4 million units.
“Without
any doubt, the Lada brand will be in the short term and the long term
the largest brand in Russia for the alliance”, he told Reuters. “We are here to strengthen the brand and give it everything it needs.”
By Andrew Tsaousis
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment