RUSSIAN 2017 BUS MARKET the Russian Bus Market Is Quite Conservative and the «Rules of the Game» Are Determined by the State
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А В Т О б у с ы ANALY TICS RUSSIAN 2017 BUS MARKET The Russian bus market is quite conservative and the «rules of the game» are determined by the state. In this text we will tell about what those rules are and the alignment of forces on the market in 2017 MINIBUSES A significant part of commercial passenger trans minibuses on the basis of vans of European brands and MercedesBenz Sprinter Classic are produced portation in Russian cities is made by route mini (according to the company ASMholding). At the in Russia in full cycle. But the importation from buses – minivans of the M2 category, created on same time, the base vans of the Peugeot Boxer, abroad of new fullblown minibuses for commer the basis of LCV segment vans. From time to time Citroen Jumper, FIAT Ducato, IVECO Daily, Merce cial passenger transport is devoid of any economic regional authorities declare their desire to remove desBenz Sprinter and Renault Master models sense, since such vehicles will be absolutely un minibuses from urban routes and replace them are imported from abroad, while the Ford Transit competitive at a price. It remains to add that the with large buses. But in fact, in the overwhelming majority of regions the picture remains the same, and small private carriers continue to operate main ly minibuses. For this reason, the volume of sales of minibuses is almost three times higher than sales of other «ordinary» buses (small, medium and large capacity): according to our estimates, in 2017 at least 30 thousand minibuses were delivered to the register against 11.5 thousand larger buses . All minibuses that are on sale in the Russian market are brand new, bear the stamp «Made in Russia», and this applies to models built on the basis of allmetal vans of European brands. Seve ral large enterprises specialize in such conversion, whose total production capacity allows for over 20,000 minibuses per year to be converted. In the current economic conditions, there is no such de mand, and while in total in 2017 all the body buil ders of Russia were able to produce 10.4 thousand 46 2 [142] 2018 КОММЕРЧЕСКИЙ ТРАНСПОРТ most popular for conversion into minibuses are These include the vehicles of GAZ and UAZ with al minibuses, including the 4x4 versions to operate Ford Transit vans (their share clearly exceeds 50% most equal market shares. In this case, the product in offroad conditions. The most demanded cars in the total number of minibuses produced in Rus line of these factories is very different. UAZ pro are the newest Gazelle NEXT series, in which there sia), followed by MercedesBenz Sprinter Classic, ducts – special minibuses of a wagon type on 4x4 are minibuses both with original framepanel bo and the share of other models is drastically smaller. frame chassis. Developed back in the 1960s, they dies (used only as minibuses and school buses) and For example, even the total number of minibuses do not correspond to modern concepts of comfort with standard stamped welded bodies. According based on the related FIAT Ducato, Peugeot Boxer or ergonomics, but they have a stable demand due to our estimates, last year more than six thousand and Citroen Jumper vans falls short of the result of to their low price (from 8,900 euros) and high cross minibuses of this series were made. The Gazelle the Sprinter Classic. country ability. None of UAZ minibuses is certified Business family of minibuses gained another three Russianbrand minibuses hold 2/3 of the market: to be used as a route vehicle. The GAZ plant imme thousand registrations. And 1.2 thousand buyers they account for about 20 thousand registrations. diately put out three LCV lines, each of which has purchased the compact Sobol minibuses. BUS TRUCKS Another class of passenger cars that should be vehicles). The production volumes of bus trucks at In 2018, the production of bus trucks on Ural chas considered separately are the socalled bus trucks: these plants are very close: in 2016 in Russia there sis also intends to expand the KAVZ plant located passenger bodies on the chassis of trucks with high were 316 NEFAZ units registered and 286 Ural in Siberia and specializing in the production of or throughput with wheel formulas, the 4x4, 6x6 and units (without taking into account army deliveries). dinary medium and large capacity buses. even 8x8. In Europe, you will practically never meet this type of vehicles, but in the Russian regions, due to natural and climatic features and a large number of technological roads without a hard sur face coating, such transport is indispensable. Bus trucks are built by more than a dozen enter prises, however, in the statistics of production and registrations, only the products of the two most massive manufacturers, the Ural and NEFAZ auto mobile plants, are traditionally taken into account. The first of them assembles passenger bodies on the chassis of its own production (their brand is Ural, versions with hoods and cabovers are avail able). The second factory belongs to the company KAMAZ, and therefore mounts its bodies on the chassis of KAMAZ trucks (there are only cabover FROM SMALL TO ARTICULATED: The bus market of all the remaining types should be tered for the first time in the territory of the state). makers were covered by government subsidy prog considered together. This includes vehicles of small, Of this number, as many as 92% account for the rams for school buses and buses with gas engines. medium, large and extralarge capacity – in fact, share of national producers, whose positions here Of the aforementioned 11.5 thousand registe this is what they usually mean in colloquial speech are strong as in no other segment of the Russian red buses, 63.4% are PAZ vehicles. A plant of the by the word «bus». According to the agency «Auto automotive market. How did this happen? Because same name is under the control of the holding stat Info», all traditional buses in Russia in 2017 to ta according to Russian laws all municipal organiza company GAZ Group, which also includes large LIAZ led to 11,509 registrations (here both new and used tions cannot spend state budget funds for the pur and KAVZ plants. The total market share of the vehicles are taken into consideration, but regis chase of foreign cars. In addition, only national auto GAZ Group, therefore, is even higher and amounts www.ktmagazine.ru 47 А В Т О б у с ы ANALY TICS TOP 10 RATING BY BRAND Number of registrations Brand (according to LLC Avtostat Info) 2017 2016 % 1 PAZ 7,295 5,836 +25.0% 2 LIAZ 1,441 1,845 21.9% NEFAZ 3 (not taking into 543 684 20.6% account bus trucks) 4 VOLGABUS 361 275 +31.3% 5 KAVZ 359 366 1.9% 6 MAZ 353 812 56.5% 7 Youtong 270 57 +373.7% 8 Higer 166 25 +564.0% King Long 9 144 52 +176.9% (Xiamen King Long) to 79%. At the PAZ plant, production is recovering field rearengine model KAVZ4238 (10 meters) 10 ZhongTong 70 4 +1,650.0% rapidly after the crisis: on the domestic market, de and its short version KAVZ4235 (8.4 meters): in to mand for the plant's products grew by a quarter. tal they have 298 registrations. Among city buses Now on the PAZ assembly lines models of three dif of large capacity (12 meters) the best result was TOP 20 RATING BY MODEL ferent generations are simultaneously being assem demonstrated by the lowfloor model LIAZ5292: Number of registrations bled: they have the same dimensions (7.08.8 m) 672 registrations. At the same time, the LIAZ plant (according to Make, model LLC Avtostat Info) and the frontengine, but are in different price ranges. produced large parties (up to several hundred 2017 2016 % The main driver of growth may be considered the pieces) of three more models of the same dimen 1 PAZ3205 3,148 3,691 14.7% newest and most expensive model of a small class sion in 2017: the urban semilowfloor LIAZ5293, PAZ3204 2 2,482 961 +158.3% bus Vector NEXT, created on a special bus modifi the urban highfloor LIAZ5256 and the longdis (Vector + Vector NEXT) cation of the truck chassis of the GAZon NEXT. tance highfloor LIAZ5250. Thanks to such a wide 3 PAZ4234 857 540 +58.7% Despite the front engine layout and frame chassis, range of products, the LIAZ factory put out three 4 PAZ3203 (Vector) 715 562 +27.2% the plant has already developed for Vector NEXT times the total volume of buses produced by its 5 LIAZ5292 672 768 12.5% a special urban version with a low floor level on the nearest competitor NEFAZ. 6 NEFAZ5299 502 603 16.7% rear crowding area and a wheelchair access ramp. In the past, Belarusian MAZ created serious 7 LIAZ4292 422 738 42.8% This has allowed the vehicle to participate in tenders competition for Russian plants in the class of me 8 KAVZ4238 217 293 25.9% for the purchase of city buses, announced by the dium and largesized vehicles. However, in 2017, VOLGABUS 910 202 173 +16.8% largest municipal carriers. Nevertheless, the oldest the Belarus producer could not win the same num CityRhythm 12 family of PAZ buses, already developed in the early ber of tenders, and the volume of bus deliveries fell 910 Yutong 6119 202 15 +1,246.7% 1980s, still continues to be much more popular.