Ukrainian vehicle production falls by over 80% in Jan-Oct

As reported, the decline in January-September 2015 was 82.3%. According to the association, the largest decline over the period was in the main segment passenger car production. It fell by 86.4%, to 3,446 cars, which is mainly linked to the idle period of main automobile manufacturers and the availability of Kremenchuk Car Assembly Plant, which has been stopped, in the comparison base (7,500 cars). Commercial vehicle output over the period fell by 22.7%, to 1,210, and but output was down by 31.3%, to 533 units. The association said that in October vehicle production grew by 33.4% compared to September, to 555 vehicles, while it is 62.8% down on October 2015. Production of passenger cars grew by 2.1 times in October compared to September, first, thanks to a rise of 80% in production at Eurocar plant, to 306 cars. Additionally, Zaporizhia Automobile Plant (ZAZ) made 56 passenger cars, while in September the plant did not produce them. Commercial vehicle output in October fell by 33% on September 2015 and by 52.7% on October 2014, to 116 vehicles, and bus production grew by 5.5% on September 2015 and fell by 25.2% on October 2014, to 77 buses. Ukrautoprom said that ZAZ made only 1,902 vehicles in January-October 2015, which is 85.3% down year-over-year. Passenger car output fell by 85.5%, to 1,821 cars, commercial vehicle production decreased by 91%, to 29 units, while bus production rose by 68%, to 52 units. In October along the plant produced only passenger cars. Plans of Bogdan Corporation were still idle in October. They made only one bus and in January-October 2015 only 14 vehicles were made compared to 2,172 a year ago. Bogdan Corporation Spokesperson Serhiy Krasulia said that the Ukrautoprom's statistics do not include some vehicles, including trolleybuses. He said that in January-October 2015, the plant made 65 buses and trolleybuses and several samples of special-purpose vehicles being designed for the National Guard and Defense Ministry. Eurocar plant, producing Skoda cars, almost halved production in January-October 2015, to 1,625 cars, while in October production grew by 90% on October 2014 and by 80% on September 2015, to 306 cars. Only Chernihiv Automobile Plant out of two plants of Etalon Corporation worked. It made 31 buses (compared to 48 buses in September 2015 and seven in October 2014). In January-October 2015, the plant saw a 6.3% fall in production, to 149 units, while Boryspil Automobile Plant saw a 96.7% decline in production, to 3 vehicles. In the bus segment, Chasiv Yar Buses (Ruta buses) continued showing stable production. It grew by 2.7% in January-October 2015, to 150 buses, and in October along 15 buses were made (the same number as a year ago). Cherkasy Bus Plant made 246 vehicles in January-October 2015, and this is 22% down year-over-year, including 189 buses (a decline of 36.8%) and 57 commercial vehicles (3.6 times up). Public joint-stock company AvtoKrAZ retained production of trucks at the level of last year: 1,100 trucks were made. Krasulia said that despite the today's crisis in automobile production, taking into account the loss of the Russian market, vague prospects of entering the European market, automobile manufacturers do not give up, hoping that the Ukrainian economy will be stirred up and postponed demand will be realized. He said that automobile manufacturers continue holding talks with several global automobile concerns on production of their vehicles in Ukraine, particularly, Chinese manufacturers showed their interest, taking into account the possibility of entering the EU market.