MOSCOW, August 1 New foreign-brand passenger cars imported to Russia will gradually begin to rise in price in August, but the increase will be insignificant, and will not affect all models and trim levels, auto expert Maxim Kadakov shared his forecast.
According to him, it is in August that the trend of revising prices for foreign cars will begin due to the expected increase in the recycling fee from October 1, and by the end of the year the increase could be 10% (for foreign cars in the mass segment).
«Everything is very ambiguous, because each company is now acting based on the current situation: some have car reserves, some do not. I think that starting in August, they will gradually start to preventively include the recycling fee in the price of the car. But not all of it, but gradually. I believe they will even break it down by different trim levels. For example, keep the price for the basic version, and add it to the higher trim levels,» the expert noted.
That is, the more expensive the car, the greater the increase can be, and the cheaper the car, the less, so as not to scare off buyers who come for a basic car, he explained.
«We will really feel the change in prices closer to December. The trend will start in August, and by the end of the year this figure may grow by 10% (for mass-produced foreign cars). In new lots of cars supplied, almost the entire recycling fee will be included in the cost of foreign cars,» Kadakov added.
In July, the Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed introducing a gradual indexation of recycling fee rates for cars in the Russian Federation until 2030 inclusive: for cars, LCVs, trucks, buses, trailers and semi-trailers, they may be increased by 70-85% starting this year, and then annually by 10-20%. At the same time, the ministry notes that the measure will not affect the cost of Russian-made cars in any way, and when applied to foreign cars, it may facilitate investment decisions on localizing production.