Russian automotive production in 2023 increases 16% to 720,000 units - Manturov

MOSCOW. Jan 15 (Interfax) - Production of all types of motor vehicles increased 16% in Russia in 2023 to 720,000 units, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said.

"Last year production increased 16%; over 720,000 cars from different segments rolled off assembly lines in our country. In total, over 1.3 million cars of all types were sold on the domestic market," Manturov said at a meeting of the Prime Minister with deputy PMs on Monday.

Programs to stimulate demand for domestic cars have become an important aspect of the revival of the Russian automobile industry, he said. "Last year, the state allocated about 16 billion rubles for preferential leasing and car lending mechanisms. This made it possible to ensure the sale of 62,000 cars. The government has allocated funds to continue the programs this year," Manturov said.

As reported, there are 17.3 billion rubles in the federal budget for preferential car loan financing, with 9 billion rubles allocated for preferential leasing.

Manturov noted at the meeting on Monday that the all-encompassing task for all types of automotive equipment in Russia remains scaling the production of automotive components. "A special program of the Industrial Development Fund (IDF) has been aimed at this since 2022. Under it, we have already supported 31 projects worth 53 billion rubles. At the end of last year, the IDF received about 55 billion additional rubles. A significant part of these funds will also be directed to the localization of components," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

The priority for Russia here is bring the production of the passenger car and light commercial vehicle segments completely on-shore, he said. "Solving this strategic task will make it possible to form new production chains protected from sanctions. This would create hundreds of small and medium-sized cooperation companies which would replace global suppliers," Manturov said.

A similar approach, he said, would also be applied in other segments of the automotive industry where there is a higher share of government procurement. "First of all, this applies to updating the vehicle fleets of the healthcare and education systems. Last year, the government supplied the country's regions with more than 3,000 school buses, 1,200 ambulances and 200 mobile medical complexes," Manturov said.