April 21, 2014, 00:00

UAZ was built into the "Cortege"

Alexandra Terentyeva Vitaly Petlevoy Vadim Shvetsov / Sergey Porter / Vedomosti

Popular SUV. 3.2

million rubles - this is the minimum price for the best-selling executive SUV in Russia in 2013 - Toyota Land Cruiser 200. 13,669 of them were sold, but sales decreased by 11.69%

Vadim Shevtsov's Sollers will produce SUVs on the Cortege platform at the Ulyanovsk Automobile Plant, Industry Minister Denis Manturov said on Friday. According to him, using the platform developed by the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Institute (NAMI), UAZ can begin production of SUVs of a “more affordable class” in 2018. The production could reach 40,000 cars. Manturov did not name the retail price of such an SUV.

The Cortege project involves the development and production of limousines for top officials, as well as sedans and SUVs (on a single modular platform). The planned cost of the project is 20 billion rubles, 12.4 billion rubles. will be allocated from the budget for NAMI to develop the platform.

The first samples of cars will be created by 2015, testing of prototypes is planned to be completed in 2016, production of a limousine may begin in 2017, and an SUV and a minibus in 2018, the minister said. The minibus will most likely also be produced by Sollers. The site for the limousine will be selected by mid-summer, the minister said. ZiL, GAZ group, Volkswagen and Kamaz are being considered.

It is unknown how much Sollers will have to invest in preparing the site for the production of SUVs on the Cortezh platform. Sollers will only be required to purchase equipment, the minister noted, without giving the exact amount of investment. A Sollers representative only confirmed that the production of SUVs will begin at UAZ.

UAZ annually produces about 70,000 vehicles under the UAZ brand; a joint venture between Sollers and the Japanese Isuzu also operates at the plant’s facilities. Last year, sales of UAZ cars decreased by 10% to 63,000 units, according to a Sollers presentation. According to the financial statements for 2013, UAZ’s net loss amounted to 1.1 billion rubles. versus RUB 985.6 million. profits in 2012, revenue decreased by 6.2% to 26.2 billion rubles. The net profit of Sollers itself according to IFRS in 2013 decreased by 39.2% to 3.6 billion rubles, revenue - by 6.5% to 61.3 billion rubles.

UAZ has free capacity, recalls Metropol IFC analyst Andrey Rozhkov. The risks are no greater than any new project, he notes. But if the same model is used as in the Far Eastern joint venture - “cost plus”, i.e. the use of a fixed premium for the production of a car - then its payback will not directly depend on the number of cars produced, Rozhkov notes.