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After Toyota announced its withdrawal from the Russian market, Mazda, a Japanese car company, also said it was considering withdrawing from the Russian market and ending its production business in Russia. At present, Mazda's manufacturing plant in Russia has stopped production, but Mazda has not yet made a final decision on sales and after-sales issues. A spokesman for Mazda said it was discussing halting production at its joint venture plant in Vladivostok, eastern Russia, without giving details, a spokesman for Mazda said on Sept. 26, when Reuters reported that it was in the midst of a deal with Russian carmaker Sollers.

Russian carmaker Sollers, the Russian carmaker, is Mazda's Russian partner, and Mazda Soles is a joint venture that opened a car manufacturing plant in Vladivostok in 2012 that produces Mazda's CX-9 SUV, CX-5 and Mazda 6 models.

Russian carmaker Sollers revealed that the two sides were in talks to stop car production at the Vladivostok plant and buy Mazda's stake in the joint venture, and Sollers said in a statement: "at the same time, Sollers has drawn up a plan to restart the plant to produce other brands of cars, and the outcome of the negotiations is currently being finalized."

According to figures released by the Russian media, Mazda will produce about 28000 Mazda cars in Russian factories in 2021, an increase of 3 per cent over the same period last year. Mazda Soles plans to produce 30, 000 vehicles in 2022, an increase of 7 per cent year-on-year. In March, Mazda said it would stop exporting parts to the Vladivostok plant because of supply chain disruptions caused by the situation in Russia and Ukraine, and would stop production after the parts in stock ran out. At the end of August this year, the Russian media announced the 10 most popular models in Russia in 2022, of which the Mazda CX-5 sold 5863 vehicles in Russia in July, accounting for 99.2 per cent of Mazda's total sales in Russia, ranking 10th in single model sales, but sales fell 46 per cent year on year.

At present, Mazda has stopped production at its Russian factory. Due to the protracted conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Mazda says it is becoming more and more difficult to operate its Russian factory and believes that the resumption of production is a long way off. In fact, since the escalation of the situation in Russia and Ukraine at the end of February, Russian car sales have been seriously hit due to sanctions and the withdrawal of a large number of Western manufacturers and chaos in the supply chain. According to incomplete statistics, including Volkswagen, Honda, Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, Volvo, Jaguar Land Rover and other car companies have announced a suspension of car exports and sales to Russia. At the same time, a number of car companies have stopped production at their local factories in Russia.

Among Japanese car companies, Toyota announced on the 23rd of this month that it would end its production business at its St. Petersburg plant in northwestern Russia, becoming the first Japanese automaker to announce its withdrawal from the Russian market.

Toyota said it would stop production and sales except for maintenance services for cars already sold in Russia. On the same day, Toyota Executive Chairman Tian Zun told the media: "Russian local legal persons will be liquidated without transfer or sale." Toyota began localized production in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2007, mainly producing RAV4 and Camry models, with an annual output of more than 80, 000 vehicles.

Toyota's sales in Russia rose 6.9 per cent to 97941 vehicles in 2021 from a year earlier, but new car sales in Russia accounted for only 1 per cent of its total sales, with a negligible impact on its profits. Toyota said in a statement on its website on March 3 that it would suspend production at its St. Petersburg plant in Russia from March 4, while Toyota's car imports in Russia have been halted due to supply chain disruptions. From January to August this year, Toyota sold about 19000 vehicles in the Russian market, down 69 per cent from a year earlier.

Mitsubishi's joint venture with European carmaker Stellantis has also stopped work in Russia, while Nissan decided to extend the shutdown at its St. Petersburg plant from the end of September to the end of December. Nissan had previously said it lost 52.6 billion yen in its Russian and Ukrainian operations in fiscal 2021 and did not expect to restart Russian operations in fiscal 2022. "the company has abandoned its Russian business in its forecast for this fiscal year, and we expect to continue to suspend its Russian business this fiscal year," said Makoto Uchida, chief executive of Nissan. " Due to the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine, there are still many uncertainties, which may have a significant impact on the financial position and operating results of the group in the current and future financial years.

On May 16 this year, French carmaker Renault Group also officially withdrew from its Russian business. French carmaker Renault said it had agreed to sell its entire stake in Renault Russia to the Moscow municipal government and its 67.69 per cent stake in AvtoVAZ to NAMI, a Russian government-backed car research and development centre. "the agreement gives Renault the option to buy back its stake in AvtoVAZ, which can be exercised at a specific time over the next six years," Renault said. According to the data, Russia sold 1666780 cars in 2021, while Renault sold 131552, accounting for 8% of Russia's total car sales. Russia became Renault's second largest car market after France. But against the backdrop, Renault's production and operation in the Russian market has been hit hard, with the latest figures showing that Renault sold only 31638 vehicles in Russia from January to August 2022, a year-on-year drop of 65.2 per cent. Luca de Mayo, chief executive of Renault, said: "the decision to leave Russia was painful, but the company was forced to make a decision because Renault was no longer able to build cars in Russia."

Since the situation in Russia and Ukraine, monthly sales of Russian cars have all dropped sharply compared with the same period last year. According to statistics, from March to July, Russian cars fell by 62.9%, 78.5%, 83.5%, 82% and 74.9% respectively compared with the same period last year. The latest figures show that Russian sales in August 2022 were 41698, down 62.4% from a year earlier; cumulative sales in Russia from January to August in 2022 were 410600. In terms of brands, European brands such as Renault, Skoda and Volkswagen have gradually lost market share, but by contrast, the sales share of Chinese car brands in the Russian market is growing rapidly. Take Harvard as an example, it ranked third in August with sales of 2990 vehicles, up 26% from a year earlier, making it the only brand in the top 10 to achieve growth. The overall market share also rose to 7.2% from 2.1% last year. According to the concerned statistics of the automobile industry, Chinese brands have grown rapidly since April. The market share of Chinese brands has been maintained at about 9.5% in the first quarter of this year (January-March), and has increased significantly in the second quarter. Among them, 12.6% in April, 16.9% in May, 21% in June, 24.3% in July and 25.9% in August. Chinese car sales in Russia will continue to grow for a long time.

The original plan was to produce about 1.5 million cars at the Russian car factory, but due to parts shortages and European and American sanctions, AFS expects Russian car production to lose 760000 to 815000 vehicles this year and the loss is "irreparable." As companies such as Europe, the United States and Japan restrict exports and withdraw from the Russian market, Russian auto market analyst Avtostat predicts that the Russian car market will decline to where it was 15 years ago by the end of this year.

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