The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia will launch preferential car loans and leasing programs, the ministry's press service said on Thursday, July 14.
“Under the terms of the preferential car loan program, the discount subsidized from the federal budget will be up to 20% of the cost of the car, and for cars sold in the subjects of the Far Eastern Federal District - 25% to compensate for the cost of delivering cars from the European part of Russia.
All UAZ, Lada, GAZ models worth up to 2 million rubles will participate in preferential car loan programs,” said Denis Manturov, head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
According to the minister, it will also be possible to purchase all Evolute electric vehicles on preferential terms, the production and sale of which should begin in September.
When buying such a car, the discount will be 35% of the cost of the car, but not more than 925 thousand rubles.
In turn, the preferential leasing program will cover all Russian-made cars, light commercial vehicles and trucks of the UAZ, Lada, GAZ, KamAZ, and Ural brands.
In this case, the basic discount will be 10% of the cost of the car, but not more than 500 thousand rubles.
As expected in the Ministry of Industry and Trade, by the end of 2022, at least 50,000 cars can be sold as part of the concessional lending program.
At the same time, it is planned to sell at least 25.7 thousand cars under preferential leasing.
Both initiatives should start working in the second half of July.
RIA News
Earlier, President Vladimir Putin instructed to resume programs to stimulate demand for the Russian auto industry.
For these purposes, the government is going to allocate a total of 20.7 billion rubles from the budget.
The initiatives of the authorities are designed to support the country's car market and increase purchasing activity in today's difficult conditions, said Vladimir Gutenev, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry and Trade, in a conversation with RT.
“Preferential programs will help Russians save money - spend less money on buying a personal car, without which in some cases it is very difficult for a family to do without.
In addition, these measures will allow our production to increase the necessary volume of sales,” the deputy believes.
Market Incentives
It should be noted that from January to June 2022, sales of new passenger cars in Russia decreased by 55.6% compared to the same period in 2021, to 352.1 thousand units.
This is stated in the study of the analytical agency "Avtostat" and JSC "Electronic Passport".
Sales of new vehicles are declining amid a marked decline in car loans.
According to the latest estimates from the National Bureau of Credit Histories (NBCH), from January to May 2022, the total amount of car loans issued in the country amounted to 257.3 billion rubles, which is 40.9% lower than in the first five months of 2021.
“The current situation with the issuance of car loans is reminiscent of the quarantine spring of 2020.
At the same time, compared to the pandemic 2020, the volume of loans for the purchase of cars this year is even higher.
However, compared to last year, the drop in issuance in this segment is very significant, and this is explained not only by the growth of market rates in March and April, but also by the general shortage of new cars,” explained Alexey Volkov, NBKI Marketing Director.
As Pyotr Shkumatov, coordinator of the Blue Bucket Society movement, noted in an interview with RT, at the moment the shortage of cars on the Russian market is about 1 million units.
Taking into account the approximation of the average cost of a car to the mark of 2 million rubles, today in the segment there is a pent-up demand of almost 2 trillion rubles, the specialist emphasized.
“Thus, the 20 billion rubles allocated by the government is about 1% of the total demand.
At the same time, since car loans have noticeably sagged, Russians are increasingly taking consumer loans for these purposes.
Against this background, preferential programs will only slightly intensify the market,” Shkumatov believes.
According to the expert, the industry could be significantly supported by the temporary lifting of bans and customs barriers on the import of used cars from other countries.
Such a decision would eliminate the shortage in the market and reduce the price of cars.
“As for preferential leasing, it can be used by car sharing companies and owners of taxi companies.
Also, the initiative will be useful for large retail chains that have their own fleet of vehicles for transporting products and goods,” Petr Shkumatov is sure.
RIA News
© Anar Movsumov
As the specialist noted, entrepreneurs also have difficulties with spare parts, since the car fleet of the business is “traditionally old”.
However, this problem is gradually being solved by launching a parallel import program, the expert added.
In March, the Russian government legalized parallel imports.
We are talking about importing foreign products into the country without the consent of the copyright holders.
Later, Vladimir Putin signed a law that protects Russian companies from possible civil, administrative and criminal liability when purchasing foreign goods under the new scheme.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in May, more than 130,000 commodity items worth a total of $1.8 billion were imported into Russia through parallel imports. In particular, we are talking about spare parts, electronics, clothing, cosmetics and other products.