OREANDA-NEWS. Russian KAMAZ and "Sollers" are ready to consider the possibility of large-scale capacity loading for SKD- assembly in Vietnam. But high duties on vehicle sets interfere the companies, by reaching in a number of categories up to 70%. Car market of the country in 2014 increased by 43%, but the production in Vietnam is interesting for Russian concerns as the start site for export to other countries in the region, wrote the newspaper "Kommersant".

Since 2006, KAMAZ has a plant in Vietnam (the capacity – is about 1 thousand cars) for assembly of SKD kits. But, according to the company, in 2014 it was sold 150 trucks in the country, the most part was imported in the form of finished products. With such volumes it is unprofitable to assemble cars in Vietnam, noted the automaker, by adding that local duties on finished goods and vehicle sets are about the same. A source at the company said that a necessary condition for production increasing is the reduction of the duties on SKD-kits. "GAZ Group" confirmed that the fees are 30-70% depending on the category of vehicles, and it is the major barrier for exports to Vietnam.

The "Sollers" still doesn’t have the production abroad, but now the concern is really interested in the organization of assembly production in Vietnam. "Sollers" intends to organize an assembly "UAZ" in Vietnam, the company spokesman informed the newspaper "Vedomosti". According to him, the last week it was signed the corresponding memorandum with a local company Vinamotor, which will assemble cars from kits, supplied from Russia. Parameters of the project will be approved later after the signing of documents on creation of free trade with Vietnam. But in accordance with the capacity and the growth dynamics of the local market, as well as with the account of the markets of neighboring ASEAN, the assembly of "UAZ" in Vietnam can be up to several thousand units per year, said the spokesman.

Russian market leader AvtoVAZ did not show interest in Vietnam: it was reported that the focus is on the Russian market, and key export markets were called Kazakhstan, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Germany. But, as explains the source, familiar with the situation, it is unprofitable to assemble passenger cars in Vietnam: the big tax, market is narrow, and the competition is strong. According to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers' Association (VAMA), in 2014 the country sold 157.8 thousand cars, a market leader - is Toyota with a share of almost 26% (40.9 thousand units). But the market is growing: in 2013 it was sold about 96 thousand cars. Demand for trucks is not so great: the main transfers between North and South Vietnam are made through the sea. However, a source of "Sollers" explained, automakers are counting on free trade zone between the ASEAN countries to export duty-free cars - for example, to Cambodia or Laos.

Sergey Litvinenko from PwC notes that against the falling sales in the domestic market of Russia automakers are looking actively for a platform for exports. But Vladimir Bespalov from "VTB Capital" does not expect a breakthrough to the Asian markets and he believes that if the assembly in Vietnam is launched, the sales will be very limited. Do not forget about the presence of Chinese automakers, which make the strong competition, he recalls.