According to the Russian Automobile Dealers Association (ROAD), Russia’s vehicle fleet continues to rapidly age and has already reached a critical point: more than 70 percent of cars regularly used on the country’s roads have crossed the ten-year mark. To radically improve the situation, it is necessary to double the sales of new cars, but current indicators leave much to be desired, creating serious challenges for the industry and road safety.
According to the latest data, there are about 55 million registered cars in Russia. However, as ROAD experts note, only 39 million of them are actually on the move. Depressing statistics indicate the significant age of most vehicles. It turned out that a huge share – 72 percent of the current fleet – consists of cars produced more than ten years ago. This highlights the emerging problem of moral and physical deterioration of the country’s automobile stock.
In Russia, Chinese special vehicles based on old Toyotas will be produced. In Kazakhstan, they began to convert old BMW 5-Series F10 into new G60. In Europe, new measures are being prepared to support electric vehicles.
But modern cars less than ten years old make up a noticeably smaller part of the Russian vehicle fleet. Their number is estimated at 15.3 million units. In order to reverse the aging trend and ensure the gradual rejuvenation of the vehicle fleet, according to ROAD specialists, it is necessary to stimulate sales of new cars. The optimal scenario for achieving noticeable positive changes is the annual sale of about 3 million new cars over the next ten years.
Earlier, the Kaliningrad holding Avtotor presented an innovative approach to partially solving the problem of updating the vehicle fleet. The company announced the launch of a remotorization project aimed at converting used cars with internal combustion engines into electric vehicles. This modernization will be carried out by installing electric motors of Avtotor’s own design. The cost of this service for passenger cars will not approximately exceed one million rubles, and for commercial vehicles – two million.
New Russians: premieres of our automobile industry