Andrei Reut
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin recently surprised us again. He announced a crash programme to save Russia's auto industry. The industry will get funding, he said, and buyers, interest-free loans. Finally, left-hand-drive cars will be transported to the Far East for free, either Ladas or Logans. The decision has its flip side, though: high import duties will be introduced on foreign makes. The Far East, accustomed to low-priced used Japanese right-hand-drive cars, will have to change its habits. The news immediately stirred up local trouble. But here evidence becomes conflicting. Some speak of large crowds of protesters, others of a couple of hundred "tough guys" who converged for their rally on brand-new Cruisers.
To tell the truth, I am itching to join the indignant citizenry. We should be allowed to drive decent cars, not the "junk", or "lemons" produced by the Tolyatti auto plant. Although the state has supported it for years, Tolyatti failed to turn out any vehicle worth the name. In the Far East, thousands of people have jobs associated with right-hand-drive cars - selling, servicing, maintenance, repairs - and they cannot be left jobless. Isn't that enough? And one more argument: why should taxpayers pay for the free transportation of cars to the Far East?
Well, now it is time to paint banners and go to the nearby square. Or, you may try and take a close look at the situation, difficult though it is. I have a friend who believes that nothing is better than a right-hand-drive car, and that no sane person will call left hand-drive proper. I myself once asked for the price of a four-year-old Toyota in Vladivostok, which proved to be half that in Moscow. But ... let us make a sober assessment of the situation. It is not for nothing that the Prime Minister is so persistent. I simply do not believe that a handful of VAZ or KamAZ lobbyists made him go against his people. This cannot be true. They are not the kind to force Putin's hand. They cannot even assemble a decent car...
If so, what then? Let us read the latest news. George W. Bush gives billions of dollars to Chrysler and General Motors. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, does the same to Jaguar and Land Rover (owned, incidentally, by India's Tata). Even well-off Toyota will suffer losses for the first time in 40 years. The global auto industry is in shambles, with sales down by one-third. Every country is looking after its own interest.
And what are we seeing in Russia? The news tells us that AvtoVAZ is extending winter production stoppage to February 2. UAZ stopped its assembly line till February 9. KamAZ's management has given its staff winter holidays from December 23 to January 19... You see they are no better than their foreign counterparts. The Ford plant outside St Petersburg has also ground to halt, causing stoppages at plants supplying engines, electronics, rolled steel, etc., all along the supply line. Millions of jobs. When Bush, Brown and Putin come up with simultaneous measures of support for their automobile industries, only a person with a sick imagination can see a mega-plot by lobbyists behind it all. It seems the matter is now clear: support is vital.
The Far Eastern episode is more difficult to explain. Its car business thrives and employs thousands of people. In the 1990s, when some or other official tried to ban right-hand-drive, local car business leaders threatened to declare an independent Far Eastern republic in response. Thank God, those years are past and over. It is a pity that the problem was not solved in the plentiful 2000s. There was no urgency. People stood in line half a year to buy a new car. Now that the crisis has erupted things will have to be cleaned up.
And there is a lot to clean up. We are witnessing a paradox over most of Russia. While new auto plants are springing up around Moscow and St Petersburg, used Japanese cars and aggressive but lame Chinese models have flooded the market east of the Urals. Whole cities have gone over to "wrong" steering. Whatever motorists say, it is dangerous. A right-hand-drive vehicle on a public road is a threat both to one's own and another's life. The death of Governor Yevdokimov is ample proof. In the lean 1990s, the authorities took a lenient view of even the police and ambulance services using the "wrong" kind of vehicles in Vladivostok. Now it is a disgrace. We are telling ourselves and others that we are a great country again, yet whole cities in Russia are teeming with used cars from Japan.
The problem is ripe for solution. It is good that no attempt has been made to use any bans. Otherwise protests would not have been avoided. Instead a different approach has been chosen. If you want a right-hand-drive car, pay more and buy your Cruiser. Customs and high import duties are the stick. The carrot is the free transportation of vehicles from European Russia. Imagine what a vast market will open up before our industry! And not only for AvtoVAZ products: our plants assemble many other models - from the low-priced Logan to the BMW 7 Series. If everything goes well, growing sales will help our industry get through the crisis. The Vladivostok residents I interviewed sighed resignedly: of course, we will buy them, what else can we do? They are not eager to protest. Unlike those who have made used imported cars their business.
Last but not least: why at our expense? Why should the state spend money to supply Siberia and the Far East with cars? Some reflection prompts me to answer the question with a question: why do Siberia and the Far East supply us with oil, gas and other tools of prosperity? This is because for hundreds of years Russia has been investing in the regions--collecting money from some, and giving it to others. This was the ground rule of the game.
Why are air fares to Vladivostok or Khabarovsk subsidised? It is to keep local Russians from thinking their main city is in China or Japan. To enable them to visit the Pushkin Museum or sail on a pleasure boat down the Neva. This is also why cars will be shipped for free: people should know that they live in a country with right-hand traffic, and not, for example, in Malaysia with its rich colonial past. It is a matter of territorial integrity and even national security. Those are high-sounding words, of course, but one who has seen Khabarovsk residents eagerly learning Chinese will understand me.
The Government should look several steps ahead in order not to hurt ordinary people owning cars in the Far East. Those on Cruisers will survive. Most protests come from those who have hundreds of cars registered in their name - professional car deliverers - who avoid paying import duties by bringing in privately registered cars. They will be hurt - and badly, but they are few and can sell their Cruisers in case of dire need.
But one who feeds his family by driving a thousand-dollar jalopy may feel the pinch if, say, parts become unavailable or the tax is raised sharply. There must be a sense of proportion in everything, especially on such an uncommon issue as preventing imports of right-hand-drive cars. In this case protests will gradually stop and people may get used to the "normal" driving position.
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"Most protests come from those who have hundreds of cars registered in their name - professional car deliverers - who avoid paying import duties by bringing in privately registered cars."
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