China-made cars are set to take the Russian market by storm with the opening up of Russia’s market following its entry into the WTO and unprecedented sales soaring to new heights.
During the opening of the international conference “Automobile Business in Russia and China: Development Trend and Cooperation Prospects”, Sergei Katyrin, VP of the Russian Chamber of Commerce, said on September 28, 2007that over 50,000 China-made cars would be sold in Russia by the end of 2007, as reported by ITAR-TASS.
The speed of growth in the import of Chinese cars in Russia is reflected in the fact that while sales totaled 260 in 2004, by the end of 2007, they would explode to over 50,000. Sergie Katyrin is of the view that for such a huge growth, the trade needs to be carried out in a civilized manner, stopping all chaos prevailing in the Russian market.
Giving a statement to The Autochannel, Andrei Novikov, the Head of International Department of the Center for Strategic Research (CSR), said, "In 2004, there were no Chinese cars in Russia; in 2005, 5000 Chinese vehicles were sold here and the figure jumped to 20,000 in 2006. During the first half of this year, Chinese cars rose to 40,000 units".
The most significant spurt in sales in the initial eight months in Russia was experienced by Chery Automobile, the leading domestic car manufacturer of China. The average growth for foreign-brand cars in Russia during this timeframe was 66%, while sale for Chery rose by nearly 578% to over 23,800 units.
The belief of Russian market dealers’ circles representatives is that having proved themselves in the Russian market, Chinese cars will steadily increase their share. Participants from China opined at the conference that the Russia’s market has the greatest potential for the Chinese automakers and these makers don’t want to confine to car sales in Russia.
Industry experts are of the view that Russia is good as a sales market and can be chosen as a production location by any foreign player. This view stems from the imminent opening up of the market following Russia’s WTO entry.
An analyst at RNCOS says, “The good quality and affordability of Chinese automobiles are responsible for the exports of Chinese cars into Russia. Chinese automakers are also finding Russia highly appealing due to its simplified customs procedures and geographical proximity to the country. Also, as Russian consumers are becoming more international in their choices and population is getting richer, it will work in favor of automakers”.
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