MOSCOW, March 24. / TASS/ Automakers began to suspend production at their Russian factories due to problems with the supply of parts, the companies revealed on Tuesday.
Volkswagen and PSA have already announced a downtime, while Sollers also announced the risk of suspension of production of cars at UAZ and Ford Sollers.
A significant part of the total Russian capacities for assembling foreign cars will undergo production suspension: in addition to Volkswagen and PSA, in particular, they have their own production capacities in Russia – Renault (plant in Moscow), Chinese Haval (plant in Tula), Mersedes (plant in Moscow Region), Nissan and Hyundai (plants in St. Petersburg).
Lack of foreign parts
Volkswagen closed most of the European sites last week due to coronavirus, PSA plants were closed in Europe until March 27. This was reflected in the Russian capacities of foreign automakers.
Volkswagen plants in Kaluga (production of Tiguan, Polo and Skoda Rapid) and Nizhny Novgorod (contact assembly of Skoda Octavia and Skoda Kodiaq) will go idle from March 30 to April 10. The company said that Volkswagen can now provide a stable supply of cars and spare parts to dealers and customers.
Groupe PSA will also suspend the plant in the Kaluga region from April 1 to 3 due to interruptions in supply due to the coronavirus. This plant, in particular, produces Peugeot 408, Citroen C4, Mitsubishi Outlander, Zafira Life minivan and Opel Vivaro van. After that, the plant will suspend work again: from April 6 to 10, its employees will go on collective leave.
Sharp drop in demand
At the same time, if foreign automakers with capacities in Russia suspend the factories due to production needs, then the Russian Sollers sees a threat to the stability of work due to lower demand.
Customer traffic to car dealerships in Moscow and St. Petersburg has already fallen by 40% and will continue to decline in the regions if the epidemiological situation develops according to a negative scenario, according to the company. Thus, a sharp drop in demand may entail a lack of capacity utilization and, as a consequence, a suspension or reduction in production volumes. We are talking about the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant (UAZ) and Ford Sollers in Tatarstan, where Ford Transit light commercial trucks are manufactured. The suspension of production at enterprises is possible no earlier than May, the company said.
KAMAZ continues to monitor the situation; no decisions were made about downtime. The GAZ Group only reported that they are "working on maintaining the sustainability of enterprises under various conditions."