“The Russian automobile concern “AvtoVAZ” may reduce the production of cars in 2025 due to a sharp drop in sales and the devaluation of the ruble.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
The Russian automobile concern “AvtoVAZ” may reduce the production of cars in 2025 due to a sharp drop in sales and the devaluation of the ruble. This was stated by the company’s president Maksym Sokolov, writes The Moscow Times. According to Sokolov, the company is preparing to review the production plan, which provides for the release of 500,000 cars already at the beginning of next year. “The figure of 500,000 cars is the budget and production plan approved by the board of directors. But this was, let’s say, relative to the situation at the end of October – beginning of November. Now the situation is changing dynamically – unfortunately, it is deteriorating,” said Sokolov. Advertisement : In November, “AvtoVAZ” sold 39.58 thousand passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, which is 7.7% less than in October. The monthly decrease was recorded for all main Lada models, except for Lada Largus. Thus, sales of the flagship Lada Granta model in November fell by 25.9% compared to October (to 14,741 units), Lada Vesta – by 10.4% (to 8,078 cars), Lada Niva Legend – by 17.8% ( to 4,137), and Lada Niva Travel – by 20.7% (to 3,815). “Car sales in all segments are falling. We are preparing for a difficult year in 2025,” Sokolov added. Advertisement: According to him, AvtoVAZ faced a “perfect storm”: the company was hit by the devaluation of the ruble, which occurred at the end of November, when the dollar on the Forex market approached 115 rubles, car loans are unavailable due to the high key rate of the Russian Central Bank (21%), and as well as strengthening lending conditions. Sokolov assured that the company does not yet plan to raise prices for the Lada model range. “But it is quite obvious that the changing exchange rate of the ruble will lead to an increase in the price of purchases of the imported component base. This component is not even present in the first-level suppliers, but in the suppliers of materials, sub-components, and raw materials. And it will somehow affect the increase in the cost price, which somewhere will cross the pricing line,” Sokolov said. In September, Sokolov estimated the company’s debt at more than 100 billion rubles. According to him, the concern needs to find almost 20 billion rubles. for servicing loans annually. At the same time, the authorities have already helped “AvtoVAZ” by postponing the payment of scrap collection until the end of the year, protecting the plant from import dumping, and also providing soft loans, grants and subsidies. We will remind: It was previously reported that sales of new cars and light commercial vehicles in Russia in 2025 may decrease by 21-30% to 1.3-1.4 million units at a high key rate.
