When the West imposed sanctions on Russia simply after the Ukraine invasion, all main Western automotive corporations exited the nation. Whereas BMW was one of many first automotive producers to depart Russia, different giants, together with Volkswagen AG, Common Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Renault and AB Volvo, adopted go well with.
Following this, the Russian President urged state our bodies to cease utilizing foreign-made automobiles in favour of home ones. Russia’s home-grown mannequin Lada’s gross sales had soared, occupying the primary spot within the home market.
However, Russian officers nonetheless do not want home automobiles. They proceed to import automobiles, a lot that 151 foreign-made automobiles price 566 million rubles (INR 48,20,25,371) had been bought in August alone, reported The Moscow Occasions, quoting a neighborhood Russian investigative information outlet.
Whereas Chinese language manufacturers accounted for 114 of the automobiles, the remaining had been Japan’s Toyota, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor and China’s Nice Wall Motor.
Putin had earlier stated “some ministers had requested for permission to proceed shopping for foreign-made automobiles” however “that was out of the query”.
Regardless of the President’s order, Russia’s Common Prosecutor’s Workplace and a Protection Ministry engineer centre are reportedly among the many consumers.
Curiously, after the Western automotive producers left Russia, Chinese language carmakers, together with Geely Vehicle Holdings Ltd., Chery Vehicle Co. and Nice Wall Motor Co. grabbed 17% of Russia’s auto market in 2022. A lot in order that Russians bought a document variety of Chinese language automobiles in 2022, pushing the gross sales of recent Chinese language automobiles by seven per cent final yr, CNN quotes knowledge supplier Autostat.
Curiously, even Putin cannot typically resist the appeal of international automobiles. He was seen driving a Mercedes some months in the past, regardless of switching to the Russian-made Aurus limousine.
The video launched by the Russian state media in December exhibits Putin touring Crimea behind the wheels of a German-made Mercedes. The President’s alternative of the automobile quickly grew to become a speaking level, with some alleging that Putin was “making a degree” by driving the Mercedes as an alternative of a Russian-made automotive.
Nevertheless, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was fast to dismiss any hypothesis relating to Putin’s alternative. On why the President selected a Mercedes and never his Aurus, Peskov, the Press Secretary for the President of the Russian Federation, stated “that type of automotive was simply out there on the spot.”
“He drove it so as to not use further automobiles,” Peskov was quoted by the Russian web site TASS.
