In 2022, the government allocated 677 million rubles in subsidies to KamAZ for the creation of dump trucks with a cab of the K5 line (based on the German concern Daimler). The problem is that after the German concern left the Russian Federation, the Russian company did not have enough parts to fulfill the annual plan (300 vehicles), so the authorities revised the plan for 2022 and reduced it to 0 dump trucks, Kommersant writes , citing a document from the Ministry of Industry and Trade .
Now the Russian company is required to assemble 300 new dump trucks by the end of 2023, although KamAZ itself claims that it has fulfilled the plan for K5 dump trucks by more than a third, having delivered more than 100 vehicles to the market. Under current law, the authorities have the right to change the requirements for the implementation of the plan and / or postpone it to the next year if the release was affected by Western sanctions. At the same time, the subsidy for 2022 will be paid to the company anyway, so KamAZ will receive money regardless of the volume of production.
Representatives of KamAZ, in a conversation with the publication, did not confirm that the production of dump trucks of the K5 model continues, but promised to fulfill all plans. The president of the automaker, Sergei Kogogin, previously admitted that the company faced serious problems due to the departure of German partners and the resulting shortage of components. The company expected to be able to find alternative suppliers, but admitted that production volumes would have to be significantly reduced.
“What the Europeans did not supply us, we are trying to find somewhere in other countries. Of course, this is an increase in prices, an increase in logistics costs and everything else. Anyway, we will eventually make several thousand K4–K5 machines [in a few years]. But not 16 thousand, but 3-5 thousand. This is painful for us, since expensive cars formed the main cash flow, ”Kogogin said earlier.
Experts believe that KamAZ may face another risk: licensing agreements and intellectual rights for the line may belong to foreign partners of the Russian company. The concern itself has already promised to completely localize the production of K5 in 2023.
After the start of the war, almost all major foreign car manufacturers left the Russian market, with the exception of Chinese brands, which began to fill empty niches. Moreover, in the segment of professional equipment, for example, dump trucks, they not only took the share of foreign companies, but also began to crowd out the shares of Russian manufacturers, including KamAZ, since Chinese products turned out to be cheaper.