BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan. 9
By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:
Uzbekistan’s UzAuto Motors company has developed a strategy to compete with the German BMW concern and the Japanese Toyota Corporation in the premium segment of cars in the domestic market, as was announced by the head of the strategic planning, analytics and development department of UzAuto Motors Rustam Kadyrov at a press conference, Trend reports citing the Uzbek media.
On December 25, 2019, UzAuto Motors held a presentation of new cars in the SUV segment - Chevrolet Tahoe, Traverse, Trailblazer and Equinox, related to premium models.
According to Kadyrov, in order to organize the production of each of these models from scratch in Uzbekistan, investments of $1-$2 billion will be required. Therefore, at the first stage, the company decided to import these vehicles in finished form in order to study the demand in the market.
If UzAuto Motors manages to find its place in the market, and sales volumes grow and reach the level necessary to start production, the company will attract investments to produce these models in Uzbekistan, Kadyrov said.
“As you know, after lowering customs duties on importing cars in the premium segment worth $40,000 and more began to arrive from the foreign market. BMW imports have increased, as did the imports of Toyota cars. After studying the situation, we developed a strategy to compete with these companies,” said Kadyrov.
Since 2019, Uzbekistan has had a privilege on the import of cars worth from $40,000 and above. However since January 1, this benefit has been canceled. Kadyrov claims that UzAuto Motors does not interfere in the process of determining customs rates.
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