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The US automaker, Ford, has shut down three factories in Russia because it was pulling out of the production of passenger cars in that country. "Ford" announced its intention to stop producing passenger cars in Russia by the end of June – it will close the vehicle assembly facilities in St. Petersburg and Naberezhnyye Chelny, as well as the factory of Jelabuga engines.
The US company is responsible for this decision, attributable to the weak recovery of the Russian car market after the economic slowdown in recent years, and the transformation of customers into cheaper cars. "Ford" would focus in the future on "Transit" commercial vans in Russia.
Asked if the decision of one of the most famous automakers was due to tense relations between the United States and the Russian Federation, as well as to the appeal of US President Tramp to return the national car manufacturers in the United States, prof. Slobodan Acimovic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, replies that he is inclined to believe that such decisions are made by big companies.
"However, in this case, it may be a kind of patriotic call back, which was also the case in 2008 and 2009, when other auto companies returned from certain countries to their country of origin. Of course, the truth is hard to discover, "says Aćimovic for Sputnik.
Andrej Leontiev, an expert in the Russian car industry, believes however that it is not entirely correct to say that Ford is leaving Russia.
"First and foremost, it should be remembered that the Russian automobile industry owes a lot to Fordu, because this company has just opened the factory in Nizhny Novgorod and then to Gorka, cities that started to produce cars for a large market, while "Ford" started shaking in the late '90s, buying a lot of things – "Mazda", "Volvo", a group of brands with which they The efforts to have all these cars on the same platform have led to the fact that all these brands are starting to quit, "says Leontiev.
According to him, the American part remained good and it started to emerge in Europe.
"The problem is that it takes a cheap car for the developing country market, and there was no such car on the market and had nothing to offer, for example, Fishta and Ford, which were formerly the most popular foreign cars in Russia, were becoming more expensive, and people were not ready to perceive the "home" as a superior class car, "notes Leonty, adding that" Ford "does not not go, but just try to survive and leave what is selling regularly, and abolish models whose future is suspect.
Igor Morzareto, a partner of the analysis agency "Avtostat", told Sputnik that this transfer from the American company has been going on since the New Year.
"It's hard to say if it has anything to do with the Russian market, because Ford is basically changing its policy towards the European market, not only from Russia, but also from two large factories in Europe and, in general, the production of passenger cars throughout Europe, leaving only commercial cars and crossings, so it is a policy vis-à-vis Europe and not just Russia. Ford 's car sales in Russia are not very high and, in this respect, three factories are clearly too large and only generate losses, "said Morzareto categorically.
According to him, the "Ford" problem in Russia is linked to the general market situation, which decreased significantly in 2014 and whose structure has been modified. "Ford" was not ready for that, not just him, but also several other companies that were expecting growth in demand. It was like that at the beginning of the twentieth and beginning of this decade. Unfortunately, according to Morzaretto for Sputnik, the Russian market has changed and customers are now choosing cheaper models, which Ford does not have.
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