The AvtoVAZ plant has announced a switch to a 4-day work week amid falling demand for cars of the domestic brand. Despite the fact that the market as a whole showed a drop of 17-18% in August relative to August 2024, Lada sales fell by almost a third - 28%.
The AvtoVAZ plant is the main lobbyist for every increase in recycling fees, presenting them as noble measures to protect the domestic auto industry. But, it seems, this time something went wrong and the buyer, instead of going to buy the next more expensive fourth restyling of the "eight", carried all the truthfully and untruthfully earned money into parallel imports, against which they were trying to fight.
August ended with very disappointing figures for AvtoVAZ: sales of Lada Granta, the undisputed leader in sales in the Russian Federation, fell by 31%. Vesta rolled even lower - a drop of 44%, and even managed to let the miracle of Chinese automotive industry, Haval Jolion, pass ahead. Iskra did not spark at all, no buyer interest in it was identified, as well as, in principle, no demand for a car between Granta and Vesta among the target audience. Everyone has already forgotten so much about Aura that rumors have spread about the end of its production, which AvtoVAZ denied.
Undoubtedly, the upcoming recycling fee will hit car imports, but it will also hit overall purchasing power. When the cost of a car as a whole becomes unaffordable, the consumer does not run to buy a cheaper analogue, he postpones the purchase or looks for an alternative in the secondary market. A person who yesterday wanted and could buy a new Kia Seltos will not go to the AvtoVAZ showroom for a Lada Vesta because of the increased price. It is a pity that ordinary workers will pay for strategic miscalculations, who will be deprived of 1/5 of their income.