On Monday, the American concern GM and the French group PSA announced the sale of Opel/Vauxhall and a number of other assets with a total staff of 40,000 people. GM will receive €2.2 billion from the sale, of which €1.8 billion will be paid by PSA. After the transaction, PSA will control 17% of the European market, which will allow the group to become the second after Volkswagen manufacturer on the continent.

The head of the PSA, Carlos Tavares, speaking to reporters, did not rule out that Opel cars may eventually return to Russian market. “Once the intellectual property rights are transferred to PSA, the Opel brand will have the opportunity to develop on international market, and thus there will be no exceptions here, ”he said, answering a question.

The head of the group pointed out that the return of Opel to Russia should be dictated by economic expediency, and he did not name any timeframes.

“It depends on the business aspects of what we could build on it. If the business case is profitable, we will do it, if not, we will not do it,” Tavares said.

Tavares expects the purchase of Opel/Vauxhall will help "continue the development of this great company and accelerate its recovery," PSA said in a press release. The French hope that thanks to synergies in the procurement, development and production of cars by 2026, annual savings will amount to € 1.7 billion. The deal will be finally closed by the end of the year after it is approved by European regulators.

At the same time, Opel and its British division continue to be unprofitable. It was precisely because of the desire to cut losses that GM announced its withdrawal from the Russian market in the spring of 2015. brands Opel and most Chevrolet models. Against the backdrop of the collapse of the ruble and a sharp decline in sales, doing business at our own production site became unprofitable.

“We had to take drastic measures in Russia to protect our business. We reaffirm our goal of returning profitability European business GM in 2016 and will stick to our long-term goals as defined in the DRIVE strategy! 2022," he said at the time. CEO Opel Group Carl Thomas Neumann. According to her, by the end of 2022, GM plans to increase its share in the European market to 8% and achieve profitability of 5%.

As a result, the company mothballed its plant near St. Petersburg and fired all the staff, paying quite serious compensation to the workers - some of them demanded up to 18 salaries. Since then, the situation on the Russian market has only worsened - prices have skyrocketed, and sales of almost all brands have declined markedly. In such circumstances, the return of the Opel brand to Russia in soon, even given that the market has already begun to recover, is highly unlikely.

Analysts are also unsure about the prospects for Opel's return to Russia.

“It is difficult to say how realistic Opel's return to the Russian market is, this decision will be made by new shareholders. But if we look at the capacities that are currently available in Russia, we can conclude that competition in the segment cars is very high, while the profitability of manufacturers in Russia is quite low, - says an analyst at VTB Capital. — Therefore, I believe that there is no need to return to Russia and start production here. It is only possible to import in order to be present in some niche segments.

It seems to me that it is too early to allow full-scale production in Russia.

The situation may change if the market goes up sharply, the ruble strengthens, and foreign exchange costs in ruble terms, respectively, decrease.”

Vice President (ROAD) also believes that a possible return will not be easy.

“When Opel left Russia, there were more than two million cars of this brand,” he says. - This is a huge army of fans, so if he returns to the Russian market, it will be very good. At least the Russians will have more choice. But it is relatively easy to come and reopen factories, and it is much more difficult to create a high-quality dealer network.

But I think that many dealers will agree to work with Opel again. If all other brands perform well here, then why can't Opel succeed? Nothing is impossible."

However, the expert also noted that everything will depend on economic feasibility, and this question is still open.

(ROAD).

"IN General Motors promised us, since they plan to return to Russia approximately in two years, to mothball the plant and arrange their actions in such a way that, by the time they return, their relations with the dealer community and consumers were as loyal as possible,” said Morozov.

“According to the company, they have planned an unprecedented budget, which will be aimed at resolving all issues, including a civilized exit from the market, a compensation package for dealer companies and payments to workers who will now be reduced.”

Note that Opel Group CEO Carl Thomas Neumann said earlier that a radical reduction in GM's presence in Russia would require an outlay of $600 million, and already in the first quarter of 2015. The money will be used to stimulate sales, transform the dealer network, cancel contracts and cover the cost of layoffs.

According to Morozov, the official version of the departure of General Motors from Russia was presented to the Minister of Industry and Trade by the head of the Russian office of GM Suzanne Webber.

“She failed to convince the GM board of directors to allocate additional funds to compensate for losses of the company's activities in the Russian market for subsequent years, - explained the representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

“According to their forecasts, a rather low level of localization and high competition will not allow the company to make a profit from working on the Russian market.

And this is despite the fact that a number of global manufacturers, including those with a low level of localization, have decided to continue working on the Russian market. This decision of GM was due, in particular, to the fact that back in 2009 the company received a large government loan in the United States, and, as I understand it, the company still has a number of obligations, including not financing unprofitable activities.”

According to Morozov, the ongoing events should not have massive consequences, and other automakers will not leave Russia after the American company.

“Obviously, the rest of the automakers were happy about GM's exit,” Morozov said. — But, according to our estimates, there are no signals that any of the companies, even with low level localization, have intentions to leave the Russian market. The domestic car market has serious potential for growth, and this factor will be key for them to develop their business in Russia.”

In turn, ROAD President Vladimir turned out to be more cautious in his assessment of the future of GM in Russia. According to him, the representative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Alexander Morozov, only "expressed his wish regarding the return of the company." However, he is also sure that all the brands represented by GM are simply obliged to return to the Russian market.

“We don't know what will happen in two years,” Mozhenkov told Gazeta.Ru. — Of course, I would like Opel and Chevrolet to return to Russia in full, they have an excellent the lineup.

I am sure that Ms. Weber is doing her best to ensure that the existing dealer centers worked in that capacity until GM returned. This will be done in order to keep the client base. For this reason, it will be important for the company to properly build all relationships with dealerships.

Those who have invested in business development over the past five or six years should receive compensation, including cash, in order to simply survive.

We know that the Commission on securities GM filed a loss claim of $600 million, which means it must be spent. I would like to believe that depending on history, customer base and other important factors, distributors will be expected to receive fair compensation, including cash. And, of course, I would like to believe that in two or three years, when the Russian car market goes up, GM will return. GM ranks 3rd in the ranking of global automakers. The concern is simply obliged to be present on the Russian market in full, so that our customers have a choice.”

Speaking about the future of dealerships, Mozhenkov notes that the existing dealer companies it will be difficult to find new partners to fill the empty spaces.

“It will be very difficult to switch to new brands,” said the head of the ROAD.

“Manufacturers are faced with the goal of maintaining their dealer network, and if you start to increase it, it will turn out that it will simply “smear” and everyone will suffer from this.”

In turn, the commercial director of the Avtomir company told Gazeta.Ru that dealers hope to "receive compensation for all their expectations." Otherwise, businessmen will have to go to court.

“The fact that GM left Russia came as a surprise to us. But our business is arranged in such a way that we are always ready for diversification, we keep our finger on the pulse,” Groshenkov told Gazeta.Ru.

“At the same time, we have just built our own GM dealership in Yekaterinburg and have not launched it - it should have opened only in three weeks. We are counting on compensation, and if we do not agree, we will sue.

Now we have entered the phase of negotiations on the promised compensation with the representative office. We have been assigned managers who guide us. Their program and what exactly they offer is not very clear yet. We are waiting for final proposals within one to two weeks.”

According to Groshenkov, Avtomir is currently actively looking for brands that can replace those that left Russia.

“Finding new partners, of course, will not be so easy,” says the dealer. - We will have to give up some car dealerships, in cases where we own dealerships, we will continue to do business and serve our customers. We consider everything existing brands, we evaluate their profitability and market position, our decision will depend on this.”

In turn, the VTB Capital analyst draws attention to the fact that GM is not completely leaving Russia - they still have a joint venture with, a plant in St. Petersburg, which they will mothball, as well as the Cadillac brand, which also remains on the Russian market.

“I don’t think that for such big company it will become a problem to rebuild the dealer network as well,” Bespalov says to Gazeta.Ru.

- Thus, the possibility of GM returning to the Russian market is very real, given the good potential of the market. However, it is unlikely that they will return on the same conditions that they had before.”

As for the financial losses that the concern will incur in connection with payments to dealers, then, according to the interlocutor, the decision to leave Russia could be made taking this circumstance into account. “The point was not only that the company suffered losses in Russia, but also the need for serious investments in production if they remained to work on the market,” Bespalov explained.

Recall that the American auto giant General Motors in March announced a radical change in its business strategy in Russia. GM-owned German Opel brand will completely leave the domestic market, and the Chevrolet brand will lose its most popular models. Thus, in Russia, GM will only have the Cadillac brand and three well-known, but not very popular models Chevrolet - Corvette and Camaro sports cars, as well as the Tahoe SUV. At the same time, the first 400 workers from the GM plant in St. Petersburg, which will soon be mothballed, were fired the other day. They agreed to leave after receiving seven average monthly salaries. Employees who refused to leave by agreement of the parties now expect to receive compensation in the amount of 12 average monthly salaries.

Opel is one of the most well-known manufacturers cars from Germany. It was founded in 1929 and throughout its history has produced several hundred excellent car models. In Russia, the first real vehicles under the Opel brand were produced in 2006 at a plant located in Shushary, near St. Petersburg. A little later, the production of some models was launched at the AvtoVAZ enterprise in Nizhny Novgorod. But in mid-2015, the owner of Opel - Company General Motors curtailed production and stopped deliveries of cars german mark to Russia through a dealer network.

In this regard, the question remained: Will Opel return to Russia in 2019? Detailed Options Read on for answers.

The question was and continues to be open. Of course, ordinary fans of the brand would like cars to be made for them in their native country, and fellow citizens to get new jobs. But launching production at a mothballed plant near the northern capital is not as easy as it seems at first glance.

The opinion of the owners of the company

Before the sale of Opel in the summer of 2017, General Motors bosses spoke several times about the company's possible return to Russia in 2019. This partly explained the unwillingness of the concern's management to get rid of the plant, which is idle near the northern palmyra. But in mid-2017, the PSA group of companies, which includes French manufacturers Peugeot cars and Citroen.

The opinion of the new owners about the fate of the famous company, as of November 2017, is known. Executive director and head of the board PSA concern Carlos Tavares believes that if the proposed resumption of production of Opel cars in Russia is profitable, the company may return to the largest country in the world. The fate of Russian production capacity famous car brand hung in the air. final decision for the plant in Shushary will be adopted in 2018.

Opinion of experts and analysts

According to leading experts automotive magazines Russia, there are 2 ways to develop the situation with Opel:

• The company launches 1-3 models of its cars at the Shushary plant (Astra, Mokka X, new Generation Insignia or crossover Crossland X). The company has a much greater popularity in the largest country in the world than other participants in the PSA concert. Most domestic dealers will be happy to work with her. According to the vice-president of the association "Russian car dealers» (ROAD) Vladimir Mozhenkov Opel's return may not be easy, but it is entirely acceptable;
• Carlos Tavares has a strong reputation for short cuts and optimizations. In light of this, it can be assumed that the plant in Shushary will be sold to one of the competitors of the PSA concern. Citroen and Peugeot have long produced cars that will only compete in the market with Opel cars. At the same time, the profitability of enterprises Russian car industry minimal Why would a huge company create a competitor on the market with their own hands and get a minimum profit?

Estimated news of the Opel brand in 2019

According to the assumptions of experts and the announcements of representatives of the brand, Opel will release several new car models in 2019. The following cars promise to be beautiful and beloved by drivers: Omega X, updated Astra and Corsa. Let's hope that one of the most desirable news for Russians about Opel in 2019 will be a message about a new launch of the company's production facilities near St. Petersburg or in any other corner of the country.

Conclusion

Finally, we can say that the minimum probability of Opel returning to Russia exists. It all depends on how attractive the new owners of the company consider the domestic car market and how they will be able to negotiate with the authorities themselves. big country the world about any tax preferences or benefits.

For three years, the crisis has formatted the domestic automotive market- only memories remained about the former richness of the assortment. Since 2014, the number of models on sale has decreased by a third, and this process continues: at the beginning of the year, the brand actually left Russia. Alfa Romeo, now there are rumors about a possible cessation of deliveries of Fiat passenger cars.

Recalls famous brands, which do not fit into the modern Russian car market, and evaluates the possibility of their return.

Opel and Chevrolet

When General Motors (GM) announced it was pulling out of Russia in 2015, the news was seen as almost the start of a new Cold War. However, over time it became clear that this was nothing more than a business move, which is part of a global strategy. Yes, about care. brand Chevrolet from Western and of Eastern Europe was announced back in 2013; in Russia, the brand "delayed", apparently due to the fact that the domestic car market at that time had just begun to descend from the top of sales in 2012, when almost three million cars were sold.

The sudden outbreak of the crisis spurred the natural course of events: GM promptly switched to the European scheme of work - removed mass-segment cars from the domestic market, leaving only expensive models Chevrolet: Corvette, Camaro, Tahoe. Is it possible to expect the return of former bestsellers budget class- Aveo, Cruze, Lanos, - if the market goes on the mend? Obviously not: at present, the brand is rapidly losing ground even in India and South Africa, where assembly plants Chevrolet. Sales in these markets will be completed before the end of this year, the Indian plant in Halol will be closed, the products of another plant will be exported to Mexico and South America.

As for Opel, again no politics: the brand was let down by the low degree of localization of models. Popular Machines, such as Insignia, Mokka or Zafira, were produced by the Avtotor Kaliningrad enterprise using the “screwdriver assembly” method, so that in the face of the depreciation of the ruble, their prices literally got out of control.

Can Opel return? “Yes, maybe,” said Carlos Tavares, head of the PSA Peugeot-Citroen concern, which recently acquired this brand. “Of course, if it is economically feasible,” he added. And taking into account the fact that the greatly reduced Russian market today is divided by companies that have been investing a lot in the development of local production for a long time, this will hardly be advisable in the foreseeable future, we note.

Alfa Romeo

This Italian mark not the first time to leave Russia: since the beginning of the 2000s, the brand has tried to gain a foothold in the market three times, but each time it failed, unable to withstand competition from German manufacturers. The Italians made their last attempt in 2010, but this time the sales left much to be desired, and sharp drop the ruble exchange rate in 2014 put an end to the brand - the prices for the compact MiTo and Giulietta hatchbacks skyrocketed. In 2016, only 100 cars were sold. In January of this year, deliveries were suspended: with such a sales volume, it did not make sense to certify new batches of cars in accordance with the requirements of the ERA-GLONASS security system.

Despite a string of setbacks, Fiat Chrysler leaves no attempts to return the brand in Russia. Moreover, it is planned to follow the beaten track of Chevrolet: at present, it is being calculated the opportunity to bring to the market a representative Alfa sedan Romeo Giulia And premium crossover Stelvio.

seat

Another brand for which an unlucky star seems to be shining in Russia is the Spanish Seat, which tried to settle with us in 1996, 2003, 2006 and 2012. As a division, Seat focuses on a young audience - car owners aged 25-35, who are "adult" Brand Skoda could seem boring, and expensive. This works well in Europe where bright and stylish cars Seat perform in the grassroots segment due to a large number"weak" configurations.

However, in Russia, car prices turned out to be not “youthful” at all, which forced the little-known brand to compete with brands that were more promoted and popular in Russia. Together with an inefficient advertising policy, this did not allow Seat to achieve the desired market share of 2.5 percent (the brand's average European indicator) - in 2014, a little more than one thousand cars were sold. While in general Volkswagen cars over 200,000 have been sold. Observing the decline of the Russian market, the concern decided to stop sales from the beginning of 2015.

Can Seat try its luck for the fifth time? Possibly: at the end of June, the brand will present new crossover- Seat Arona, built on Ibiza hatchback units. Considering that in the first quarter of this year, SUVs in Russia accounted for 42 percent of sales (125,000 vehicles), which made the SUV segment the largest, domestic market there will be a place for an inexpensive "Spaniard".

Chevrolet when will return to Russia?

Chevrolet Captiva and Cruze may return to the Russian market

The Ravon brand, under which we sell cars manufactured by GM Uzbekistan, shared plans to bring new models to the Russian market.

Will Chevrolet return to Russia in 2018?

The press service of the company says that in 2018 the company will introduce two new models and one updated one to the Russian market. One of the new products is listed in the SUV segment (that is, crossovers / SUVs).

When will Chevrolet return to the Russian market: latest news

If you look at the factory lineup (and it produces a number of cars of the Korean branch of GM under the Chevrolet brand), you will find the only SUV in the range: the Chevrolet Captiva. This model was in high demand with us, but disappeared when the Americans decided to leave the Russian market and leave only the expensive models of the American Chevrolet division.

Moreover, it is not a fact that a crossover with a slightly changed appearance (GM Uzbekistan sells cars in Russia under brand Ravon) will be imported to us from Uzbekistan. Last year, it became known about Ravon's interest in the mothballed General Motors plant in St. Petersburg. But Captiva and the platform Opel Antara SKD method for our market was made there.

Chevrolet Captiva is assembled in Uzbekistan with a non-alternative 2.4-liter gasoline engine 167 hp and 6-speed automatic. At the same time, in contrast to Chevrolet Orlando, whose assembly in Uzbekistan has been discontinued, GM Uzbekistan is not going to abandon this model.

Second new model, which is reported by the Ravon press service, is a "C-segment sedan". The company also does not specify the details, offering to wait for new announcements. The only C-class sedan in the range of the Uzbek plant today is Chevrolet Lacetti which is sold by us name Ravon Gentra.

Chevrolet when will return to Moscow?

We dare to assume that production will be transferred to Uzbekistan chevrolet cruze, which was shown in 2015 at the New York Motor Show, and, most likely, the equipment for a full assembly with welding and painting will be upgraded at the plant.

And finally, in this Ravon will bring to the Russian market updated sedan R4. Here you can not guess: we are talking about restyling of the sedan Chevrolet Cobalt, which is sold with us under the R4 index in the pre-reform version. In 2015, the car went through a restyling, its appearance and interior have seriously changed. But here's to waiting for any new power units not worth it after the update.

It is possible that the updated Ravon R4 will enter the Russian market in the near future, but the crossover and sedan will have to wait. We think that Ravon will show its new products at the Moscow international motor show which traditionally takes place at the end of August.

Another old friend Chevrolet Aveo, also can return to our market. But already from Kazakhstan: the local Asia Auto certified the model in Russia last year.

The serious intentions of GM Uzbekistan are also evidenced by the fact that Ravon is the official sponsor of the Russian national football team.