The Federation Council proposes to increase the recycling fee for imported cars

The Federation Council again supported the idea of ​​AvtoVAZ to increase the scrappage fee for cars – this time only for cars that will be resold within three years after importation. Dealers point out that in the end, the final consumer will pay for the increase in waste collection. They also wonder why the scrap fee is increased for legal entities that import cars as part of parallel imports, and they see the risks of the market moving into a gray area. At the same time, cars are already becoming more expensive due to the weakening of the ruble.

The Federation Council proposes to raise the scrappage fee in the Russian Federation for cars resold within three years after importation, said the chairman of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, during a meeting of senators with Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin. “I also heard questions about the utility. All this will be considered by the government in the near future, ”the prime minister said to this (quote from “Interfax”). The Ministry of Industry and Trade redirected Kommersant to the government for details, but there they did not give additional comments.

After the closure of the factories of foreign players, with the exception of Haval, the state support budget was greatly reduced. According to Kommersant’s interlocutors, the government now agrees to allocate half of the funds from the discussed increase in salvage collection to subsidies. AvtoVAZ remains the main beneficiary of state support. The concern has already advocated an increase in waste collection, and the Federation Council supported the idea (see. “Kommersant” from January 11 And May 3).

“We are talking about protecting domestic production, but the waste collection only creates such an illusion and demotivates local players to increase competitiveness and improve the product,” says Vyacheslav Zhigalov, vice president of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association. “Cars in the Russian Federation cost twice as much as in China” . It is still difficult to say whether it is only about the resale of the car by its user, or whether the initiative will also affect importing dealers, he says: should be related to the auto business.

From the point of view of individuals who import cars for sale within the Russian Federation, the idea can also move the market into a gray zone, Mr. Zhigalov believes. “When it comes to a potential surcharge of 100-200 thousand rubles, they will simply look for ways around: you can sell by proxy or import it for the end user right away, without registration,” he says.

Despite the fact that the initiative of the Federation Council is aimed at supporting the development of the domestic auto industry, an increase in scrappage fees will negatively affect, first of all, the end consumer, Denis Migal, founder of the Fresh automotive marketplace, believes.

“Dealers import absolutely all cars for resale through parallel imports or directly from automakers. Accordingly, additional costs will be included in the retail price for buyers,” he explains.

Renat Tyukteev, Deputy Director General for Sales of New Cars at Avilon, believes that a sharp increase in prices directly due to an increase in the scrap rate should not be expected. “Although this factor has an impact on pricing in the industry, it is not as significant as, for example, currency fluctuations and inflation,” he emphasizes.

“Saturation of supply on the market is not even close – few people are ready to buy cars at current prices,” says Vyacheslav Zhigalov. Prices are now also affected by the exchange rate, he adds: if there is some backlog for official deliveries, including at the expense of the distributor’s margin, then for parallel imports, the rise in price goes faster, since “these are small batches and they turn around faster.”

Vladimir Zhelobov, director of the department for the purchase of Avtodom and Avtospetstsentr, believes that, given the current dynamics of the ruble exchange rate, there will be no “parallel imports.” He also talks about declining car affordability as “consumers are not willing to buy a car for an amount that includes all the costs of supplying parallel imports.” As a result, demand will shift to Chinese-made cars, and “those who are used to driving new cars will buy them, regardless of the brand,” Vladimir Zhelobov believes. Rising prices, he concludes, will lead to the accumulation of pent-up demand until “until we return to civilized conditions for the supply of cars.”

Olga Nikitina