Avtovaz could slash sales in Russia 20.5% to 425,000 cars in 2014
MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - Avtovaz could slash sales in Russia 20.5% this year to 425,000 cars, the company's chief, Bo Andersson, told Interfax in Kazan.
"The 452,000 is our latest Lada sales forecast. It's a market share equal to about 17%," he said.
In 2013, Avtovaz sold 534,910 automobiles, meaning there could be an overall 20.5% decline for 2014.
Andersson added that this was a rough estimate and that actual performance would depend on how the market acts.
He also said Avtovaz planned on producing 544,000 automobiles this year, including 400,000 Lada and 144,000 Renault, Nissan and Datsun.
For the first nine months of this year, Andersson said, the company showed operating profit. "Our goal is to finish the year at a breakeven level," he said.
As reported, Avtovaz had net loss to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) of 5.1 billion rubles, up 350%, for the first nine months of 2014.
Avtovaz sold 307,100 cars in January-September, 17% fewer than in the same period of last year. "Despite a drop in volumes in Q3, Avtovaz showed a positive result for operating profit of 320 million to RAS for the first time since the start of the year," Avtovaz said. "This is a huge achievement for our team and confirmation that our cost cutting program is working," Andersson said. According to a company report published later on Thursday, Avtovaz had loss from sales of 1.788 billion rubles in the 9M, down 25.6%.
