International speakers also spoke at the forum, talking about the features and trends of doing business in different countries.
In Astana, within the framework of the international exhibitions “KIAE supported by Automechanika” and “Commercial Transport Expo Central Asia”, the Kazakhstan International Automobile Forum (KIAF) was held with the support of the Association of Kazakhstan Automotive Business, reports zakon.kz.
Welcoming speeches were made by the Chairman of the Committee for Industrial Development and Industrial Safety of the Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan Amaniyaz Erzhanov, President of the Association of Kazakhstan Automotive Business Andrey Lavrentyev, President of the Union of International Road Carriers of the Republic of Kazakhstan KazATO Mahsat Saktaganov, Vice President of Messe Frankfurt and Brand Manager of Automechanika Michael Johannes .
Amaniyaz Erzhanov wished the participants of the forum and exhibitions good luck and new contracts, noting “the high potential of such events, since more than 130 Kazakh and international companies presented their products in the field of components and spare parts, tires, lubricants, tools and repair equipment for passenger and commercial vehicles " During the forum, he commented that at the moment all Kazakh automobile manufacturing enterprises receive equal government support, regardless of the level of localization. However, in the future it is possible to consider options that take into account the level of work done by existing auto manufacturing companies.
Albert Rau, Vice Minister for Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who later visited the exhibition, noted that: “taking into account the tasks of technological modernization set by the Head of State, the exchange of experience with international experts is important for the development of the domestic industry.”
The basic topics of the forum were: the Kazakh automobile market and the spare parts market, modern tools for selling commercial vehicles, features of commercial vehicle markets in different countries and international trends.
Ermek Eskergenov, commercial director of the Virage holding, representing the AKAB commercial equipment committee, in his report on the state of the commercial equipment market and export potential, proposed concluding agreements with the CIS countries on a unified certification of vehicles so that Kazakhstani ST-1 would be recognized throughout the CIS market .
He noted the high export potential of Kazakh commercial equipment, since there are models that are no longer produced in the EAEU countries and the CIS as a whole.
“Since our country has just begun to produce commercial vehicles, that is, we are kind of young in this space, the export potential is just beginning to emerge today. We have four sites in Kazakhstan where commercial vehicles are produced. These are Kostanay with the JAC and IVECO brands, Kokshetau with the KamAZ brand, Semey with the Ural, Shacman, Daewoo, LiAZ, Foton and GAZ brands, and Almaty - Hyundai, FAO " and "MAZ". To date, these four sites have met the Government's core requirement. That is, localization was increased to 30 percent and higher,” said Eskergenov. According to him, in 2015, 227 buses were produced at all four sites, in 2016, 350 buses - an increase of 54 percent. Trucks and municipal equipment were collected at 2015 units in 1880, and 2016 in 1513—a decrease of 19 percent. Eskergenov also said that in 2016 there were changes in technical regulations, and all car factories put their documentation in order. Speaking about the prospects for the export of commercial vehicles, Eskergenov noted that the first breakthrough was made by the Astana Motors company, which last year exported 196 Hyundai vehicles to Russia. In addition, there is great interest in Kazakhstan-assembled cars from individuals in neighboring CIS countries. Therefore, the export potential of Kazakhstani commercial vehicles is highly assessed.
“Having worked through all our problems that occur during export, we made a proposal to support the export program. The first is financing. Develop a system for financing export supplies at the state level. The second is risk insurance. “Develop a risk insurance system for exporters when selling cars for export,” said commercial director of Virage LLP, member of the Association of Kazakhstan Automotive Business (AKAB) Ermek Eskergenov.
The third proposal is reimbursement of subsidies for part of the costs, primarily transport, for the supply of machinery and components. It is necessary to develop a program to reimburse logistics costs, the speaker believes.
“Today, Russia and Belarus have adopted these laws, they work. We are also working in this direction. We hope to more or less work out this position this year,” the expert explained.
Ermek Eskergenov also touched upon the problem with certificates in the CIS.
“We propose to conclude agreements with the CIS countries on unified certification of vehicles so that our technical regulations ST 1 are recognized throughout the CIS market,” said E. Eskergenov at the II Kazakhstan International Automotive Forum KIAF on Tuesday.
At the same time, he added that in some CIS countries Kazakh certificates of origin are not accepted, which hinders the development of exports of domestic cars.
“This is easy to do under the Customs Union, because we have technical regulation 1, but exports to countries that are not members of the Customs Union require certification,” explained E. Eskergenov.
In addition, he spoke about the situation with the export of domestic cars.
“If we take the trend, the overall market fell by 54%. But we are pleased that the market collected in Kazakhstan fell by 12,5%. This is a big plus directly for the Kazakhstan market,” he believes.
Speaking at the forum, Tatyana Arabadzhi, director of the Russian Automotive Market Research agency, noted that in the Russian Federation the margins of dealership centers are steadily declining, approaching the European business model. We should expect that a similar trend will develop in Kazakhstan, since the rules of the EurAsEC also influence the development trends of the market as a whole. Speaking about the Russian market, she noted an interesting fact: before the crisis, Japanese brands were the most popular, and during the crisis, preferences changed towards Korean car brands. Before the crisis, cars were mainly traded in the SUV segment, during the crisis - in the B class, and now Russian buyers are gradually returning to the demand for SUVs and the demand for the C class is growing noticeably.
Lorenzo Bernardelli, representing CNH Industrial (IVECO), spoke about the brand's new strategy and presented various concepts of commercial vehicles with a very futuristic design, powered by alternative sources (hybrids and electric vehicles). The first presentations of commercial vehicles with hybrid engines took place in Hannover in 2014 and 2016.
When the infrastructure in Kazakhstan is ready for the operation of electric vehicles, it is possible that we will have similar cars, since a wide range of cars of this brand is already produced in Kostanay.
According to Lorenzo Bernardelli: “The Iveco range has been specially adapted for Kazakhstan to meet all the needs of customers in this market. The vehicles are adapted to the local climate, where working conditions and climate can be extreme: from the heat and sand of the southern regions to the harsh winter of central Kazakhstan.”
Rinat Gapparov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of DBK-Leasing JSC, during the presentation of a report on the results of the preferential leasing program, announced data on Kazakh manufacturers participating in the preferential leasing program (at 3% per annum). KAMAZ-Engineering JSC (Kokshetau) sold 69 vehicles under the preferential leasing program, SaryarkaAvtoProm LLP (Kostanay) - 75 trucks, SemAZ LLP - 127 trucks, Hyundai Trans Auto LLP - 247 vehicles. Since payments from program participants go to finance new loans (“revolving method”), preferential leasing from DBK-Leasing will work constantly.
Rustam Temirbek, Managing Director of Operator ROP LLP, presented the results of the launch of a pilot car recycling program. At the end of 2016, the VAZ-2101 (-2107) was most actively scrapped; the oldest car accepted for scrap was produced in 1948; the average age of scrapped cars is 25-30 years.
In total, 5700 passenger cars were accepted for recycling and 850 million tenge were paid. In the third quarter of 2017, a program for recycling commercial vehicles will be launched. Details are still being worked out, but it is also expected that down payment certificates will be issued. So far, it is planned to accept 3000 trucks for scrap.
Vladimir Lazarenko, representing the Kazakh emergency call system in case of accidents and disasters (EVAC), spoke about the technical parameters of all devices that new Kazakh cars are equipped with this year: automatic call in case of emergency, determination of coordinates with an error of no more than 15 m, voice connection with an emergency services operator with automatic reception of incoming calls within 20 minutes after a call, autonomous operation of the device for an hour, control of the response time of emergency services without the possibility of adjustment and subsequent changes, and many other technical characteristics.
Ruslan Egembaev, General Director of Mobiliuz Kazakhstan LLP, who represented the connected cars technology, made a bold statement that “GPS is already irrevocably outdated, since it has been replaced by telematics - an intelligent system of interaction between the owner and the car, which allows you to control and solve many problems at the same time "
International speakers also spoke at the forum, talking about the features and trends of doing business in different countries. The presentations by Vitaly Bjelski on the Middle East market and Abdelrahman Kurdie on the requirements and conditions of running an auto business in Saudi Arabia and the UAE were of great interest.
The forum moderator, President of the Kazakhstan Automotive Business Association Andrey Lavrentyev, noted the need to exchange information to understand and identify international trends in order to adapt the most interesting solutions for the Kazakh market. According to Andrey Lavrentyev: “Studying the experience of other countries will allow Kazakhstan to quickly increase both its production and business potential, since we are part of the world community and the best solution for us would be to integrate into international trends.”