The European Union and the United States have banned their manufacturers from sending cars to Russia. For European factories there is a limit for cars worth more than 50 thousand euros (about 5.8 million rubles), and for American factories – all. But if desired, these prohibitions can be easily circumvented.
For example, the European ban does not specify which value of the car must be taken into account – at the dealership, declared at customs, or the manufacturer’s selling price.
“This can be the manufacturer’s sales price, the sales price of the car, and the declared customs value,” Sergey Burgazliev, an independent consultant to the automotive industry, told Izvestia. – A scheme is quite realistic, where cars are imported into a third country and then delivered to Russian dealers. The question is whether the local importer has the right to resell cars to other countries.”
If this right is not available, then “Mohammed goes to the mountain” (second method) – a Russian dealer can buy cars in other countries and independently import them into the Russian Federation. It will be expensive, but it all depends on the demand.
The third method is the SKD assembly of machines, where suspensions are screwed onto a 20-30 meter long conveyor belt and working fluids are poured.
“Machine kits are not banned. If a car manufacturer wants to sell models in Russia whose import is prohibited, then the organization of SKD production does not require large investments. You don’t need a large factory for 10-20 assembly jobs, such as installing seats, headlights, bumpers and wheels. There are quite a few underutilized capacities in Russia where such production can be set up,” says Burgazliev.
In this case, formally Russian cars will roll off the assembly line, even if the company does not sign the SPIC.