Until recently Russia, along with China, has been one of the markets car more buoyant. Many have been the manufacturers that have open factories there to supply the local demand and benefit from a lower taxes that allow them to be even more competitive. But there have been the lean years and the sales of new cars in Russia are on the decline. Specifically, in November the decline has been of a defendant’s 46%.
This poses a problem for manufacturers like Ford, which are with a few factories that produce very few units for the demand and they are not profitable. Close may be an option, although take advantage of that productive capacity can be interesting. Ford wants to take advantage of such production in Russia for to manufacture units designed for Europe of This.
Currently, the units are manufactured in the facilities of Ford Sollers (a joint-venture Russian) only a few are destined to the export markets of the former soviet bloc, such as Kazakhstan, although with volumes not very representative. Ford sales in the first nine months of 2015 have been reduced by 40%, until 34.077 units, more than the market average, which has fallen by 35%. Its production capacity is 10 times higher than today, with 350,000 units.
This year, it is expected that in the Russian market are sold on 1.5 million units, a million less than in 2014. The most shocking thing is that among all the manufacturers, can meet a demand of 3.5 million cars per year. It is obvious that having all your eggs in the same basket and rely on a single market is a difficult one, and now brands such as Ford are preparing to export.
Currently, Ford manufactures the Fiesta and EcoSport in Naberezhyne Chelny, as well as the Focus and Mondeo in St. Petersburg. All these models are manufactured in Western Europe, except the EcoSport that comes from India. Ford also manufactures engines in Russia.
Source – Automotive News Europe