Russian Minister: luxury car brands leaving Russia will be replaced by Chinese car companies

According to reports, Denis Manturov, minister of industry and trade of the Russian Federation, said in an interview that luxury car brands leaving Russia will be replaced by Chinese automakers. Manturov also revealed that it is already discussing the matter with Chinese automakers.

Affected by the situation in Russia and Ukraine, a number of countries announced that they would ban the export of luxury cars to Russia; at the same time, car sales in the Russian market fell. Sales of new passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles in Russia fell 28.4 per cent to 277332 in the first quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the European Enterprise Association (AEB). New car sales in Russia fell 63 per cent to 55129 in March from a year earlier.

Manturov believes that despite the decline in Russian car sales in the first quarter, it is too early to make a pessimistic forecast for car sales in the Russian market. "through business decision-making and logistics structure adjustment and adaptation to the new situation, the automobile market and production will be restored."

Manturov stressed that Russia will do everything possible to enable AvtoVAZ to produce as many Lada cars as possible. In addition, Manturov also stressed that the production of Russian luxury car brand Aurus will not be affected by spare parts problems. At present, Russia's high-end automobile production line has sufficient inventory of spare parts. In addition, if necessary, there will be a need to change logistics, change suppliers, and replace imported parts in a timely manner. He also confirmed that a new Aurus Komendant SUV will be released in 2022.