AvtoVAZ will not be able to produce complete cars from May
Source：Vedomosti.ru
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Moscow
Update Time：2023/05/10
AvtoVAZ once again faces a shortage of components. In the spring of 2023, a number of suppliers violated existing agreements and notified the company about the termination of the supply of components, the automaker said in a statement dated March 30. Because of this, the non-stop production of complete vehicles will be impossible from the second half of May 2023, AvtoVAZ explains.
"In the current situation, the company's management decided not to introduce downtime for all lines, which would lead to a sharp drop in wages, but to postpone the paid unified corporate leave, previously scheduled for three weeks from July 24, to the period from May 29 to June 19" , the message notes.
AvtoVAZ faced a shortage of paint
Dealers now have only 2-3 colors available for ordering Lada cars
It is assumed that such a move will give the company time to validate alternative parts and assemblies, as well as to accumulate their stock to resume production in the last decade of June. AvtoVAZ confirms plans to produce more than 400,000 vehicles in 2023, the report emphasizes. AvtoVAZ produced incomplete cars at the beginning of 2023, said company president Maxim Sokolov on January 10. He explained the current situation by the lack of individual subcomponents from the plant's suppliers. Even then, Sokolov warned that the risks of non-delivery of components in the future remain very high. These risks are most painful in the field of electronic component base and its various elements, the top manager explained.
In addition, since the end of 2022, the Volga Automobile Plant has faced a shortage of paints and varnishes (Vedomosti wrote about this on January 30). At that time, Lada cars can only be ordered in white, black and dark green. But the brand's dealers did not expect a deterioration in demand for AvtoVAZ products in this regard, since the main sales fall on black and white cars.
AvtoVAZ has been struggling with a shortage of components since 2021, when, due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the plant could not receive microelectronics in the right amount, including anti-lock braking system (ABS) modules. At one time, the company even sold some models without a radio and multi-steering wheel with cruise control in order to somehow satisfy post-COVID demand. In 2022, the company produced about 10,000 incomplete Lada cars, but at the very end of the year they were still able to complete them with the necessary parts, Sokolov said.
It is rather difficult to assess AvtoVAZ's ability to produce more than 400,000 cars this year, when there are still 9 months of production ahead, auto expert Vladimir Bespalov believes. But subject to the solution of the issue with the supply of components, he calls such a forecast "quite possible." In the meantime, the situation for the plant remains difficult and little predictable, the expert stated. Some of the drop-down nomenclature of components will be able to be mastered by enterprises in Russia, the rest will have to be sought in the markets of friendly countries, Bespalov believes.
Sales of Lada cars in Russia in January-February 2023 grew by 1% year-on-year to 40,905 cars, according to the data of the Association of European Businesses.
Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/auto/articles/2023/03/30/968866-avtovaz-ne-smozhet?utm_campaign=editorchoice01042023&utm_content=968866-avtovaz-ne-smozhet&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti