MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s largest carmaker Avtovaz said it had lowered its production forecast for Lada cars due to U.S. sanctions imposed in September, Interfax news agency reported on Friday.
The company now expects 2023 full year Lada production to be as much as 10% less than the previously forecasted 400,000 cars, Maxim Sokolov, Avtovaz president, told journalists at the ‘Transport of Russia – 2023’ forum in Moscow.
The United States in September imposed new sanctions targeting Russia’s industrial base, maritime sector and technology suppliers, as well as facilities producing and repairing Russian weapons systems. Among those targeted was Avtovaz, while GAZ Group – another automotive manufacturer – was hit with a new round of sanctions.
As of early October, Sokolov was still saying that the company’s direct entry into the sanctions list had not affected its work significantly.
On the sidelines of the forum this week, Sokolov told journalists: “We will reach approximately the targets we talked about a year ago, but under completely different conditions. It will be a little less than 400,000 cars – the correction will be within 10% for obvious reasons, because of the sanctions”.
(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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