The Russian invasion of Ukraine will soon have serious repercussions also on the automotive world, especially for thealliance created by Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi; the group led by Luca de Meo, in fact, will have to solve a really complex situation. In 2021, almost 40% of the cars sold in Russia are Autovaz that, for the uninitiated, it is a Soviet car manufacturer owned by Rostec (32.9%) and the%, a joint-venture between Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (67.1%).
AutoVAZ produces around one million cars a year, including Lada Granta, Lada Vesta, Lada 4 × 4 and Lada Largus, as well as vehicles from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance: Renault Logan II, Renault Sandero II. The VAZ factory is the largest industrial settlement of the sector in Russia and one of the largest in the world with 140 km of production lines.
While waiting to discover the moves of the European Union and the United States, in terms of sanctions and blockades at the borders, Renault is working to ensure the supply of all components to the production lines. Renault is not the only one that could suffer from these problems, also Mercedes and Volkswagen in fact, they have some production lines in Russia. In Soviet territory the E-Class and the GLE are born, while the VW group produces from the Polo to the Q8. In Kaluka, however, there is a factory Stellantis, where numerous Fiat, Peugeot, Opel and Citroen are assembled. Tavares, in this regard, has already announced that production will be reallocated. Similar speech for Ford who, collaborating with Soller (such as Stellantis), may encounter difficulties in manufacturing commercial vehicles.
If there is trouble ahead for auto makers, it might not be too good for too Continental and Magna which have some production sites in Russia. After the semiconductor crisis (still ongoing) and the pandemic, even the war could put the car market in serious trouble. The hope, generally speaking, of course, is that we can reach a period of truce and end all conflicts.
