Western automakers can return to Russia through Kyrgyzstan to make up for their missed profit. Currently, they have lost over 30% of the Russian market and have missed out on profits.
This was stated by the managing director of the international consulting company "Autoboss" Svetlana Volodina, noting that the return could occur through the opening of production in this EAEU republic by large Western companies.
Our partners from Kyrgyzstan, who have several dealerships in the country, told us, for example, that not only Chinese manufacturers such as Haval, Exeed, Geely, Changan, have already started building their plants, but also some Western car companies are now expressing a similar desire.
Volodina's words confirm news that Kyrgyzstan, along with Uzbekistan, has started building a new plant on Kyrgyz territory. There, the countries will jointly assemble American Chevrolets, as well as their South Korean version of Daewoo and Japanese Isuzu.
The plant has not yet been built, but Kyrgyzstan has already become a car hub for Russia. This is confirmed by data for 2022 and the beginning of 2023, cited by the major Kyrgyz financial publication "Economist.kg."
It is noted that in 2022 the republic imported 3.1 times more cars than in 2021: 41.2 thousand cars instead of 13.1 thousand cars. Only in the first four months of 2023, 41 thousand cars were imported into Kyrgyzstan from South Korea, USA, Japan, China.
Russia has also entered the top five car importers to Kyrgyzstan, but only 4 thousand cars arrived from Russia. According to the general director of the largest Kyrgyz car resource Mashina.kg Tilek Eshenaliev in an interview with the publication, car deliveries to Russia and Kazakhstan have increased 11 times in just 4 months.