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Japanese carmaker Toyota has become the first manufacturer to resume direct supply of parts for repair and maintenance in Russia, referring to parts that are not on the sanctions list, the Izvestia reported. According to the report, Toyota's Russian subsidiary allows its dealers to parallel import parts that cannot be officially imported due to restrictions, such as electronic products. Toyota also produced a customs declaration form confirming independent imported parts. The name and quantity of spare parts vary according to the situation of each consignment, and the reason for resuming full supply is that the logistics chain is currently in a state of serious interruption.

On September 23, 2021, Toyota announced that due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Toyota and Toyota Europe had decided to permanently terminate their car manufacturing operations at their plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, meaning that Toyota would withdraw from Russian car production completely.

In 2007, Toyota officially put into production in St. Petersburg, Russia, mainly producing two models, RAV4 and Camry, with an annual production capacity of 100000 vehicles. According to the data, the St. Petersburg plant produced a total of 42235 RAV4 and 38547 Camry in 2021; in terms of sales, the Russian car market sold 1667135 vehicles in 2021, of which Toyota's sales in Russia increased by 6.9% to 97941 vehicles compared with the same period last year, second only to Lada (350741), Kia (205801), Hyundai (167331) and Renault (131,552). Among specific models, the RAV4 is the 11th best-selling car in Russia.

After entering 2022, due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the inability to purchase spare parts, the plant ceased operation on March 4, 2021. Since then, Toyota Russia has continued to prepare for resumption of work, including the daily maintenance of the production line, etc., but the continued intensification of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine forced Toyota to announce the termination of production activities in Russia, but at that time Toyota said that the Russian St. Petersburg plant would start the production termination process. It is planned to provide maximum support to local staff, and the Moscow office will be downsized and restructured to continue to maintain the services of Russian Toyota and Lexus owners.

So far, car companies, including Renault, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda, have announced their withdrawal from Russia, while a number of automakers have withdrawn and car sales in the Russian market have declined month after month under the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. According to the latest data from the European Enterprise Association (AEB), due to the impact of the general environment, Russian car sales totaled 687370 in 2022, down 41.24% from 1.667 million in 2021. As for the sharp decline in sales, AEB said it was affected by Western sanctions and unprecedented pressure on the Russian market in all aspects. In fact, since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, the supply chain has been disrupted by the difficulty of the Russian auto industry in purchasing parts because of Western sanctions, and softening market demand has caused a number of car companies to withdraw from the Russian market. Russian car production has been hit hard, with Russian car sales falling by more than double digits every month since March, with car sales in some months at their lowest level since 1991.

However, Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade said earlier that the Russian car market was expected to pick up in 2023 with the increase in production by car companies such as AvtoVAZ and the opening of Moscovici and Harvard plants. AEB forecasts that Russian car sales are expected to be about 770000 in 2023, up 12% from a year earlier.

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