AvtoVAZ seeks to lift auto sales and modernise production
March 22, 2016
AvtoVAZ, the Russian car maker based in Togliatti, Samara Region, part-owned by Renault-Nissan (67%) and Rostec a Russian defence conglomerate (33%) has appointed Nicolas Maure as CEO to boost the company’s fortunes. Maure, a 55 year old Frenchman, faces some tough challenges including pressing on with further cutting the workforce and removing sub-standard component suppliers. In 2014 and 2015 AvtoVAZ made 20,000 of its 65,000 employees in Togliatti redundant.
The Lada Xray compact crossover was introduced to the
Russian market in February 2016
“AvtoVAZ has already started modernising its line-up and manufacturing processes, and has significantly improved product quality,” stated Carlos Ghosn, who heads the Franco-Japanese alliance and is AvtoVAZ Chairman. “We remain bullish about the long-term future of the Russian market and AvtoVAZ as the leading domestic automaker.”
The company had a 17% share of the shrinking Russian car market in 2014, which continued its decline in 2015 with total sales in the country falling to 1.6 million units. One of the main goals at AvtoVAZ is to lift production capacity from the current level of around 920,000 cars and SUVs per annum to a planned 1.23m by 2020. While the majority of these will be Ladas, that total will also include the assembly of Renault and Nissan vehicles.
AvtoVAZ is unique in that most of the components for the cars are made in-house. The company has had manufacturing facilities for cast iron, forging, aluminium and Powder Metallurgy since production of Lada cars began in Togliatti in 1971. In-house PM production is put at around 1,200 tonnes/year, with some 84 PM parts said to be in production. The company has also been purchasing PM parts from JSC DAAZ in Dimitrovgrad, Ul’yanovsk region, since this company was established in 1972.
