The automaker faced a shortage of German semiconductors
AvtoVAZ will suspend the production of cars at its plant in Togliatti from March 5 indefinitely due to a lack of components. This was reported to Vedomosti by two sources in the company. The exact period of downtime is not clear to the interlocutors. Initially, it was about a few days, but given the current situation, it is very difficult to guess, says one of them. According to him, the upcoming simple planned and in no way connected with the sanctions against Russia by Europe and the United States because of the military special operation in Ukraine. The representative of the company did not answer the questions of Vedomosti.
It is known about the suspension of the conveyor in Togliatti and one of the major regional Lada dealers. According to him, there is an understanding on shipments of cars in March, but it is not known what will happen in April. “There may not be blocks from Bosch (a key supplier of microelectronics for AvtoVAZ. - Vedomosti). I'm afraid that they may suspend production in Russia," Vedomosti's interlocutor notes. The Bosch representative could not be contacted. Since the beginning of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine and the subsequent US and EU sanctions, European companies have been reducing cooperation with Russian partners. One of the first victims of the new sanctions regime was Kamaz. Its German shareholder - Daimler AG (owns 15%) announced the suspension of cooperation with the Russian company, wrote the German newspaper Handelsblatt. Daimler will not supply components to Russia and produce trucks as part of a parity joint venture with Kamaz - DK Rus, the publication reported.
Among those who have already announced the suspension of shipments and / or production of cars in Russia, Volkswagen Group Rus (Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley and Ducati motorcycles), General Motors (Chevrolet and Cadillac), Jaguar Land Rover, BMW , Renault, Hyundai, Toyota and Lexus. Allows for a suspension of production due to delays in the supply of Nissan components.
Since the end of 2020, microchips have become the most problematic point for the global automotive industry, their shortage has led to assembly line shutdowns and a boom in demand for new cars. The plant in Togliatti repeatedly suspended assembly in the summer and autumn of 2021 due to a shortage of Bosch microchips, which are also needed for the Lada Granta anti-lock brake system. ABS modules for Granta are produced by a local Bosch company in the Samara region.
Unscheduled pauses did not allow AvtoVAZ to produce, according to various estimates, about 60,000 cars last year. This led to a shortage of the most popular models - Lada Granta and Vesta, said car dealers interviewed by Vedomosti. Lada Vesta cars are assembled by the AvtoVAZ division in Izhevsk. This plant was not idle in 2021. A simple Izhevsk site is not planned this time either, says one of Vedomosti's sources.
At the end of 2021, sales of AvtoVAZ in Russia showed a slight (2.1%) increase compared to the pandemic year of 2020, according to the data of the Association of European Businesses (AEB). 350,714 Lada cars were sold. Export, according to the company, amounted to 35,800 vehicles (+9%). AvtoVAZ began 2022 with a strong decline in sales - by 17% to 18,045 vehicles, according to AEB statistics. Data for February has not yet been released.
The growth of the dollar and euro against the ruble (on March 2, on the Moscow Exchange, the dollar during trading reached 110 rubles, the euro exceeded 122 rubles) led to the fact that automakers began to raise prices or stop shipping cars in order to figure out at what price now sell them. AvtoVAZ has increased prices by 10-20% since March 1. The rise in prices for some models amounted to more than one hundred thousand rubles.
Sergey Burgazliev, an independent consultant on the automotive industry, notes that AvtoVAZ probably does not have a clear idea of the cost of components due to sharp fluctuations in exchange rates and logistics problems. According to him, the downtime of the plant can last at least two weeks.
On the morning of March 3, AvtoVAZ announced that it was switching to idle for four working days. At the same time, the suspension of the assembly will affect both the Togliatti and Izhevsk sites of the concern. At production facilities in Togliatti and Izhevsk, March 5 was declared a day of downtime with payment, the period from March 9 to March 11 - days of downtime with payment in the amount of two-thirds of the average monthly earnings, Interfax reports the words of a company representative. The reason for the downtime, the manufacturer calls the ongoing crisis in the supply of electronic components.
