Kommersant - The Russian government has spent more than 44.5 billion rubles on automobile purchases in Russia within the framework of state purchase of automobiles and special vehicles in 2017. The purchases cover 44-FL (FL: Federal Law - 44: for federal departments, regions and municipalities) and 223-FL (companies with state participation, unitary enterprises and private structures, for instance; carrying out government contracts or dealing with regular activities), as written in Kommersant.
According to consolidated data, 8223 vehicles have been bought within the scope of 223-FL for 17.6 billion rubles and 23,489 vehicles through 44-FL for 26.97 billion rubles. The highest amount was spent on UAZ vehicles, 4320 units for 4.45 billion rubles. Almost 2000 GAZ Group vehicles were purchased for 4.32 billion rubles, taking into account Ural. 3.24 billion rubles have been spent on AVTOVAZ vehicles, with 6396 units. As calculated by RTS-Tender, most revenue was generated by KAMAZ within the scope of 223-FL purchases with 2.72 million rubles, following sales of 505 trucks. GAZ Group has made a revenue of 2.27 billion rubles through the sales of 1100 Ural trucks. UAZ occupies the third spot (1110 trucks for 912.4 million rubles). In the meantime, a significant part of purchases has been made without specifying brand names in both ratings, as noted by RTS-Tender: around 15.8% of all departmental transport costs has been carried out through such contracts in 44-FL, amounting to 4.25 billion rubles and more than 42% in 223-FL, 7.4 billion rubles in monetary terms.
The fiercest rivalry took place amongst home brands, as told by the general director of RTS-Tender Vladimir Lishenkov: “LADA models have the leadership in terms of vehicle transactions with 27% share with an average price of 0.5 million rubles. The average price of UAZ vehicles (segment leader) is 1 million rubles, on the other hand”. The situation is different in 223-FL segment, according to Lishenkov, the brand of vehicles often not being defined. Collective names are being used in 223-FL instead: armoured vehicles, automobiles, special vehicles, road-trains etc. However, as noted by Lishenkov, customer loyalty for Russian manufacturers is observed even in corporate purchases.
Ford has generated the most revenue amongst the foreign brands (including localised production in Russia) in 44-FL (1114 vehicles, almost 2 billion rubles), followed by Toyota (586, 910.1 million rubles) and Skoda (688, 762.3 million rubles). Most amount of money was spent on Toyota models in 223-FL segment (294, 606.7 million rubles), Mercedes-Benz (123, 495.8 million rubles) and Hyundai (135, 445.7 million rubles). As stated by Ford Sollers (joint venture of Sollers and Ford), the local production of seven models has allowed the brand to participate in the state purchase tenders. A major part of the money was spent on commercial vehicles in 2017, on Ford Transit in particular. State-owned enterprises accounted for over 18% of the corporate sales of the model overall, as stated by the joint venture, the largest customers being the Russian Post (675 vans) and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (295 school buses). The sales figures of Renault (129 vehicles for 103.2 billion rubles in 44-FL) indicate that the 66% localisation rate for the models in 2017 is a result of the interest shown by the company in state purchase tenders.
As stated by KAMAZ, the direct purchases from state budget, state purchases in other words, amount to not more than 3-4% of the annual volume, the rest of sales going through competitive procedure, including those announced by state companies. According to KAMAZ, the share of the large corporate clients of the company is somewhere between 20-40% of sales (the share of large companies going up during times of crisis). The company has added that KAMAZ dealers or co-producers in special vehicles segment participate in a number of tenders and such sales often go unnoticed within the company.
