In the first six months of 2022, UzAuto Motors produced 160,000 vehicles, setting a record for production volumes. According to a new study by the Russian analytical agency PromRating, in the first six months of 2022, Uzbekistan produced more cars than Russia and took a leading position among the CIS automakers in terms of production volumes.
According to the agency, which decided to rank the largest companies in the CIS countries in terms of car production, five of the nine Commonwealth member countries have their own automotive industry. Data for 2021 and information for the first half of 2022 are taken into account.
The CIS includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Here is how the production volumes of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in these five countries at the end of 2021 compare:
Russia – 1.4 million
Uzbekistan – 236 thousand.
Kazakhstan – 93 thousand (including trucks and buses).
Belarus – about 35 thousand.
Azerbaijan – 2 thousand.
“In the first half of 2022, the political and economic situation in Eurasia, for well-known reasons, changed radically. Most European and Japanese companies have suspended work in Russia for an indefinite period. Due to the short supply of components from abroad, the normal rhythm of car production at car factories owned by national Russian companies has gone astray,” the PromRating report says.
As noted in the rating of the agency, the flagship of the Russian car industry, AvtoVAZ, did not disclose data on car production for the period from January to June 2022, but according to independent experts, in the specified period, the company assembled no more than 80 thousand cars at its two car factories, because the capacities of AvtoVAZ were idle most of the time from February to the beginning of June due to a disruption in the supply of components.
The Russian Hyundai plant has been idle for political reasons since the beginning of March, but in the first two months it was able to produce about 40,000 cars.
According to the results of the production of cars at other car factories in Russia, since the beginning of 2022, there is little information.
PromRating experts noted the competent investment policy of UzAuto Motors. The company has invested US$620 million in the production of cars on the new GM GEM platform at its facilities. Since July 2022, mass production of commercial samples of the latest Chevrolet Tracker crossover has started at the facilities of the Uzbek company in Asaka, and at the beginning of 2023 it will be accompanied by the Chevrolet Onix sedan.
The authors of the study believe that the geography of automotive production in the CIS will change dramatically in the coming years.
