The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) wants to expand list of banks granting subsidized loans on Russian-produced cars.

At moment, only  8 banks are able to fulfill requirements.

FAS proposed that banks may apply from October 1 ^st to November 01^st to Ministry of industry and trade and in case application documents are not properly done, they might be returned but nor more than 3 times.

The ministry seems to be globally supportive with FAS proposal, and FAS proposal is under validation with other ministries.

Source: bankir.ru -- Sept 07, 2009 

Yokohama Rubber Co. has partnered with Itochu Corp. to create a tire manufacturing and sales company in Russia.
 

The new company – Yokohama RPZ LLC – is capitalized at 3.76 billion ruble (approximately 11.7 billion yen), 80% of which will be held by Yokohama and the remainder by Itochu.

The company will build a new tire plant in Lipetsk, located about 350 miles south of Moscow, that will have an initial capacity of 1.4 million passenger tires per year. Construction is slated to start in March 2010.

With the joint venture set, Yokohama and Itochu also agreed to increase the latter's investment ratio in Yokohama Russia LLC, a tire sales company jointly established by the two companies in April 2005 in Moscow, from 14.9% to 20%.

Source: Tire Review/Akron -- August 21, 2009

Summary:

* Number of new and used car sales down 55% in H1

* Value of market down 62 pct to $12.8 bln in H1

* Recovery depends on state action 

The number of new and used cars sold in Russia plummeted 55 percent in the first half of 2009, and could end up falling 60 percent by the year's end if the state does not act fast, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Tuesday.

Previously forecast to become the largest in Europe this year, the Russian auto market is facing one of the worst years in its history. Its sum value has plunged 62 percent in the first half of this year to $12.8 billion, PwC said.

Heavy job losses and salary cuts have forced many Russians to delay auto purchases, while many banks have refused to give them affordable car loans due to the global credit drought.

"The negative effects of the global automotive crisis have been among the most serious for Russia," said Stanley Root, PwC's automotive analyst in Moscow. "The development of the market will depend to a large extent on government efforts to revive it."

The state has tried to boost auto lending by offering to compensate banks for lowering the price of their loans, but many analysts have said the incentives are too meagre to create a turnaround.

The decline in Russian car sales has contrasted with sales in fellow emerging market India, which has been growing for most of this year.

PwC said the 55 percent decline brought total sales to 743,000 cars for the first half of 2009, including 345,000 imported vehicles, 190,000 locally made foreign models, 200,000 Russian models and 8,000 used foreign models.

For the full year, total sales are expected to come to between 1.3 million and 1.6 million vehicles, a decline of between 50 percent and 60 percent on last year, PwC said.

In March Industry Minister Viktor Khristenko became the first senior official to predict a 2009 decline in sales of more than 60 percent, a forecast seen as pessimistic at the time.

But analysts and industry insiders, now including PwC, have gradually made their predictions more gloomy, making a 60 percent drop look more like a baseline scenario for this year.

In earlier data, the Association of European Businesses (AEB) said sales of new cars fell 49 percent in the first half, with Ford, Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota among the biggest losers. (Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov, writing by Simon Shuster; Editing by Rupert Winchester) 

SOURCE: Reuters -- July 21, 2009  

Sberbank of Russian jointly with Volkswagen Financial Services Rus have declared launch of cooperation on auto loans programs for acquisition of Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda from all official dealers of those brands.

Programs «Volkswagen Credit», «Skoda Credit» and «Audi Credit» shall cover all models of light vehicles of Volkswagen, Skoda and Audi, from affordable small models to premium ones.

Avtovaz, dont Renault détient 25 %, est touché de plein fouet par la crise. Le français abandonne sa gestion à un russe.

« Notre priorité, c'est la Russie », martèle Carlos Ghosn. Après avoir redressé le roumain Dacia et le japonais Nissan, Renault comptait rééditer cette prouesse avec Avtovaz, le premier constructeur russe, dont il détient 25 % depuis début 2008. Ce projet, déjà osé au départ - étant donné la vétusté de l'ancien dinosaure soviétique - s'est encore compliqué avec la crise. Depuis le début de l'année, les ventes de voitures se sont effondrées de moitié sur le marché russe, qui était en pleine expansion début 2008. Après être tombé dans le rouge l'an passé (563 millions d'euros de perte nette), Avtovaz, qui représente un quart du marché, est touché de plein fouet par ce retournement.

C'est dans ce contexte que Yann Vincent, ancien directeur de la qualité de Renault et patron opérationnel du russe, a annoncé récemment son départ. Il est remplacé par le Russe Igor Komarov, jusqu'ici vice-président en charge des finances. Un départ qui a surpris, tant Yann Vincent semblait faire partie des « poulains » de Carlos Ghosn. D'autres expatriés français devraient aussi rentrer.

Faire le ménage

Si Renault garde trois postes d'administrateurs, la gestion opérationnelle passe donc sous contrôle russe. « Nous avons instauré des méthodes de travail et des processus de qualité, mais dans le contexte actuel, un manager de culture russe est plus efficace », justifie le PDG de Renault. Notamment pour « sélectionner les bons fournisseurs », autrement dit, « faire le ménage » en écartant des sociétés dont la qualité et les pratiques ont trop peu évolué depuis l'époque soviétique. Par ailleurs, « il faudra avoir des contacts parmi les autorités locales pour faire accepter des mesures de chômage partiel très lourdes à la rentrée », explique Christian Estève, qui vient d'être nommé au conseil d'administration du russe.

« Avtovaz va se redresser, avec l'aide de Renault », assure Carlos Ghosn. Avec l'aide de 25 milliards de roubles (550 millions d'euros) accordée par le Kremlin, le russe « va pouvoir maintenir l'essentiel des lancements, même s'ils sont repoussés », poursuit le patron de Renault. Avtovaz souhaite commercialiser en Russie des Lada dérivées de la Logan.

SOURCE: Le Figaro – 10/07/2009