Iskra on Neva: production of a domestic novelty has begun in St. Petersburg
Lada Iskra cars manufactured in St. Petersburg began to be shipped to dealers. The new AVTOVAZ model was put on the assembly line of the company, which produced first Nissan cars, and then Xcite. The Izvestia correspondent visited the factory and found out what the point is to bring machine kits to the Northern Capital.
High decomposition
Ivan Mironov, General Director of Avtozavod Saint Petersburg, said that the serial production of Iskra began there in September. In a short time, during the summer, the equipment was reconfigured and upgraded, and the staff was trained.
A painted car body comes from Tolyatti, along with a separate power unit, interior elements, chassis and other components. There are about a thousand assembly units in total.
— This is a fairly high decomposition by all standards, — said Maxim Sokolov, President of AVTOVAZ.
Noise insulation, seat belts, ESP, interior and trunk upholstery are installed on the Iskra conveyor, the engine and front suspension are repaired, bumpers, wheels, moldings are mounted. Then the finished car rolls off the assembly line to the quality inspection line. In the Northern Capital, Iskra will be produced in all versions available on the market.
In overclocking mode
Kirill Polyakov, Vice-Governor of St. Petersburg, who inspected the production site, noted that the automotive industry occupies a significant part of the city's economy. He recalled that until 2022, every fourth Russian car was produced in St. Petersburg.
"The task set by the governor is to reach an income level of 2 trillion rubles over the next five years, without restarting a full—fledged automotive industry in St. Petersburg," Kirill Polyakov noted.
While the company is in the "acceleration" mode, at an estimated speed of 50-55 cars per hour, about 12 "Sparks" come off the assembly line during this time, representatives of the automobile plant said.
As for Xcite crossovers, they are currently not being assembled.
"This does not mean that the project is closed. We are open to new business cases and are negotiating with a number of partners," said Ivan Mironov.
Wind in the sails
By the end of the year, it is planned to produce about three thousand Lada Iskras in St. Petersburg, one thousand cars per month, Maxim Sokolov said. Future plans will depend on the state of the automotive market. This year AvtoVAZ plans to produce more than 300 thousand cars, taking into account the new site.
Sokolov stressed that the launch of Iskra in St. Petersburg is an economically calculated project.
— Some of the cars are coming here anyway, and it doesn't matter how they go — disassembled or assembled. Therefore, we do not lose money on logistics here. The economic purpose of this project is to balance our production facilities between two budget-class models. Accordingly, in our medium-term strategy, we plan to increase the production of Iskra, systematically reducing the volume of production of Grants, depending on the needs of the market. If the volume of Iskra continues to grow after the market, but we still expect that someday we will recover to the parameters of 2022, and with the most optimistic forecasts, until 2013, then there will not be enough capacity for its production in Tolyatti. And this is where St. Petersburg will get the wind in its sails," Maxim Sokolov noted.
He recalled that the Iskra in Tolyatti is produced on the third conveyor line, in the same place as the Grant. It is possible to increase the volume of its production only by reducing the release of a budget bestseller. Serious investments are required for the development of the second conveyor line, where Niva is produced. The first line is occupied by Vesta and Aura, and later the Azimut crossover and other models based on the upgraded Vesta platform will be installed there.
— The plant in St. Petersburg relieves for us this peak load on the third conveyor line in Tolyatti. And thus it makes it possible to approach the maximum speeds and thus get the highest labor productivity and the lowest cost per car. Plus, given the fact that we see medium—term prospects for launching other models on this platform," Sokolov said.
According to him, the plans for the development of the project in St. Petersburg include other models based on AVTOVAZ's own technology platforms.
Work for the future
Experts interviewed by Izvestia doubt the economic sense of launching Iskra at the former Nissan site.
— Iskra is not yet mass-produced even in Tolyatti. I would call it a social project to some extent. The plant belongs to the state, it needs to be loaded with something, taxes need to be paid, jobs need to be maintained and the team needs to be preserved, which is actually really very good. Since the days of Nissan, we have known that it is possible to make very good and high-quality cars here. Therefore, it is certainly important to preserve this team. Since AvtoVAZ is a state—owned company, the partner was determined automatically," Maxim Kadakov, editor—in-chief of Za Rulem, told Izvestia.
He also believes that this project is a work for the future.
— If we carefully assume that our market will suddenly go up sharply and there will be crazy demand for Iskra, because everything else will be prohibitively expensive, then it is quite possible that Tolyatti's capacities will not be enough for this model. If you have the necessary components in St. Petersburg, you can easily assemble more machines. As production volumes increase, we will switch to welding and painting bodies," said Maxim Kadakov.
Igor Morzharetto, partner of Autostat, agrees with him.
— The only explanation is "work for the future", possibly to increase the volume of production in the future, including theoretically other models. Also, the production of Iskra near St. Petersburg will partially reduce the cost of delivering ready-made cars to dealers in the regions of the north—west of the country, the expert believes.
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