ASTANA – Kazakh car assembly plants produced 90 percent more vehicles in the first three months of 2018 than in the same period last year, with the companies’ contribution to the national GDP reaching 39.5 billion tenge (US$120 million) in January-March.
Photo credit: kolesa.kz.
“The contribution of industry enterprises to the GDP of the state in January-March of this year reached 39.5 billion tenge, which is an increase of 90.3 percent in comparison with the indicator in the last year and far exceeds similar figures of the pharmaceutical and light industry,” said KazAvtoProm (Kazakhstan Automobile Industry Enterprises’ Union) Chairperson Oleg Alferov.
He noted the companies’ investments during the period reached 110.3 million tenge (US$334,000).
“January-March became the fifth quarter of continuous recovery growth of Kazakhstan’s auto industry. Against the backdrop of the moderate figures of last year, the volume of output doubled, reaching the level of 2015,” he added.
The sales growth of locally-produced vehicles outstripped the speed of general market recovery. The share of Kazakh-manufactured cars in March was 49.5 percent, almost half of the market’s volume.
“Kazakhstan automotive plants have such strong positions for the first time in the history of the industry!” said Alferov.
The top five brands of locally-produced vehicles are Lada (Russia), Hyundai (South Korea), KIA (South Korea), Ravon (Uzbekistan) and JAC (China).
Lada 4×4 (US$9,400-$11,500), the off-roader with a 40-year history, was again the most popular model in Kazakhstan, followed by Lada Granta (US$7,900-$10,600). The latter is one of the most reasonably priced cars on the market. Hyundai came in third with its own bestseller – Tucson (US$22,700-$32,700). Lada occupies fourth place with Vesta (US$11,500-$14,500), with fifth place held by Largus (US$13,000-$14,200). Vesta is the company’s most up-to-date model, using Renault’s technologies. Largus is the only reasonably-priced seven-seater.
Rounding out the top 10 are Ravon Nexia (US$8,500-$10,000) in sixth place. Kia is seventh with its Sportage (US$23,600-$30,900), a competitor of Hyundai’s Tuscon. Hyundai Elantra (US$17,000-$22,000), in eighth place, is the only С-class car in the rating. Lada is attracting attention with its new XRAY compact SUV (US$11,800-$15,800), followed in tenth place by JAC’s compact SUV S3 (US$12,100-$15,500).
