[Aika Car Aika Perspective Original]
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been more than two weeks, and as of this writing, there is still no sign of easing, not only the war is intensifying, but the confrontation between Russia and Western countries has further spread from military and political to economic, competitive sports and other levels. In the context of "anti-Russian" has become the background of Western social and political correctness, car companies in Europe, the United States and Japan have announced the closure of the Russian market, whether out of intention or pressure; what is more unexpected is that the Russian-Ukrainian conflict will even lead to the further intensification of the "chip crisis" that has not yet subsided; and in F1, there are already teams that have been dragged down by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and have to part ways with their own drivers and sponsors...
Blocking the Russian market: Renault, Hyundai, Volkswagen are key
Since volvo officially announced at the end of February that it would suspend the export of passenger cars and trucks to Russia, becoming a pioneer in banning Russia, major car companies such as GM, Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan have followed suit. Volkswagen, BMW, Renault, Toyota, Mitsubishi have closed their factories in Russia, and Mercedes-Benz has also closed truck factories; but this series of blocking operations, who can really cause damage to the Russian auto market, still need to be analyzed.
Volvo was the first car company to announce the cessation of exporting passenger cars and trucks to Russia, with sales in the Russian market of about 9,000 units per year.
First of all, let's take a look at the 2021 Russian car sales list, four of the top ten models in the list are products of the Russian own brand Rada, at least it does not look like it will be completely subject to others. But the problem is that the Lada brand belongs to the Russian AvtoVAZ automobile manufacturing company, and AvtoVAZ is currently held by Renault! This is embarrassing. So when Renault announced the suspension of car exports to Russia and the suspension of its plant operations in Russia, AvtoVAZ also "coincidentally" announced that two of its parts factories would be shut down for four days on March 6 and March 9-11 due to the "shortage of electronic parts supply".
In the 2021 Russian car sales rankings, four of the top ten cars are the products of Russia's own brand Rada, and it seems that even if it is blocked by European, American and Japanese car companies, Russia can also deal with it calmly.
Lada VESTA is the 2021 Russian car sales champion.
As early as 2017, the Russian AvtoVAZ automobile manufacturing company to which Lada belongs has been controlled by Renault, so in fact, the models that appear in the above list are all foreign-produced, and the Russian automobile industry is completely controlled by foreign capital.
Renault's attitude is crucial to the stability of the Russian automotive market. Renault's local auto plant supplies The Duster, Logan (CKD assembly), Nouveau Duster, Arkana and Sandero (CKD assembly) models supplied to Russia are all local best-selling products. According to data from relevant authoritative institutions, the above models, together with several Lada models under The AvtoVAZ of Renault Holdings, occupy nearly 40% of the market share of the Russian automotive market.
Counting the models produced by AvtoVAZ, Renault occupies nearly 40% of the market share of the Russian auto market, and Russia has also contributed 22.5% of the operating profits of Renault, which has just turned a profit, and blocking the Russian market is tantamount to playing a seven-wound punch that hurts others and hurts themselves first.
Of course, for Renault, abandoning the Russian market is basically equivalent to cutting off an arm. Renault, which has just completed its turnaround in 2021, has a total revenue of 46.2 billion euros, about 5 billion euros of revenue from Russia, accounting for about 11%; 315 million euros of the annual operating profit of 1.398 billion euros contributed by the Russian market, accounting for 22.5%; the Russian market sold more than 480,000 Renault models (including Lada), accounting for about 18% of Renault's global sales, which is the largest market outside France. It can be said that Renault's act of blocking the Russian market is equivalent to a seven-wounded punch, which is the so-called wounding of the enemy before hurting himself.
In contrast, South Koreans, who also have great interests in the Russian market, are much smarter. Hyundai Group (including Kia) also ranks in the top ten of the 2021 Russian car sales list, with more than 370,000 vehicles sold in Russia in 2021, with a market share of more than 22%, second only to Renault. After the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Hyundai announced on March 2 that its Russian factory would stop production due to a shortage of parts, but soon released follow-up information that it would resume production on March 9, and stressed that the shutdown event had nothing to do with the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and was careful not to anger the Russian government, giving the other side enough. At the same time, the South Korean government has also done its best to mediate at the diplomatic level: According to the recent public statements of South Korean government officials, the US Department of Commerce has allowed South Korea to export non-military vehicles to Russia (South Korea's export of cars to Russia requires US approval, do you understand the logic?). ）。
Korean cars are also very popular in Russia, and in 2021, Hyundai + Kia will sell more than 370,000 units in Russia, with a market share of more than 22%, second only to Renault; for Korean companies, the Russian market can not be lost.
Four of Kia's models won the title of Russia's 2020 Model of the Year, and Kia became the most popular car brand among Russians in 2021.
Volkswagen's situation is more complicated, and the attitude of its sub-brands to the Russian market is not consistent: although the Volkswagen brand is not bad in Sales in Russia (Polo is in the top ten sales of a single model, Tiguan has also squeezed into the top fifteen), it has decisively stopped exporting cars to Russia and shut down local factories; Porsche and Bentley have also explicitly stopped exporting vehicles to Russia (to put it more, Bentley is the best selling ultra-luxury brand in the Russian market) Skoda, which is the most dependent on the Russian market, has a more ambiguous attitude, although it has to follow the pace of the group and announce the suspension of the Russian automobile business. But some media have begun to convey the signal that Skoda will not block the Russian market for a long time. After all, Russia is the second largest market in Skoda, selling about 90,400 vehicles a year in Russia, second only to Germany's 136,800 vehicles and accounting for 10.3% of its global sales.
Despite considerable sales in the Russian market, Volkswagen and its brands stopped exporting to Russia and closed their factories in Russia soon after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
At present, Škoda's main Rapid model in the Russian market is produced in line with volkswagen Polo, and the Kaluga plant that produces these two models has been closed by Volkswagen along with the Nizhnov Grodd plant (production octavia, Karoq, Kodiaq), and it is not known when these two factories will resume operations, but it is certain that Skoda, which has not had a good life, is likely to be affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict this year, resulting in a further decline in sales.
Among Volkswagen's many sub-brands, no one has been most affected by the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which is the second largest market in the world for Škoda, accounting for a very large part of its total sales.
The models sold by Škoda in Russia are basically produced in tandem with Volkswagen models, and Volkswagen's closure of the Lower Norfogord plant (top) and Kaluga plant (bottom) is a "broken bone" for Skoda.
For GM (exporting about 3,000 vehicles to Russia every year), Honda (about 1,000 vehicles sold in Russia in 2021, announcing its withdrawal from the Russian market at the end of 2021 before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict) and other manufacturers who have no factories in Russia and whose sales are very dismal, they actively state that they are blocking Russia, but what they lose is only fur, but they can win a "good reputation" in mainstream Western society, and even incidentally boost sales in major markets.
GM and Honda, which are extremely resolute in blocking the Russian market, have their own sales in Russia are very dismal, and Honda even announced that it will withdraw from the Russian market at the end of 2021 before the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and its sales in Russia in 2021 will only be about a thousand vehicles.
But for Renault, Hyundai, and Skoda, blocking the Russian market is purely a "same end" game of killing a thousand enemies and losing eight hundred, and no matter how politically correct it is, it cannot make up for the loss of billions of euros, so whether the blocking decisions of these manufacturers can be long-lasting, I personally think it is very doubtful.
Huddle the Russian market
F1: Did the sacked Russian driver deserve it?
The shadow of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict soon soon fell over the field of sports, especially football and F1. In F1, the two countries reacted quickly at the beginning of the conflict and directly cut this year's Sochi race in Russia; the Haas team, which was funded by the Russian chemical predator and has the son of the predator as the team driver, was also under pressure to announce the official termination of the contract with the Russian driver Nikita Mazeping in the team, and at the same time terminated the cooperative relationship with the team's owner title Uralkali, including racing bodies, work cars, All the Urakalali branding, including the fleet camp, will be erased.
Nikita Ma Zeping, who "brought money into the team", was eventually abandoned by F1 because of the capital behind it, which is the so-called "success is also Xiao He, defeat is also Xiao He".
Haas team has removed all marks from Russian sponsor Uralkali (top: Haas car before termination; bottom: Haas car after termination)
Nikita Mazeping, who "led the army" with the status of Uralkali's young owner, is sympathetic to this encounter. But speaking from the heart, with the usual misconduct of the jun, it is already a miracle created by money to be kicked out of F1 at this time.
In 2020, ma Zeping, shortly after signing a contract with Haas Team, successively exposed scandals such as "attacking breasts" female models and "celebrating the 1st anniversary of the new crown", and his black history of beating rival Elliott during the 2016 F3 campaign was pulled out by the media for criticism. During this period, public opinion began to call for the removal of Ma Zeping from the Haas team, but in the end they all relied on the power of the gold dollar.
Being dismissed by F1 and the team seems to be unjust, but in fact, Ma Zeping has gone far on the road of "hiss", and events such as "attacking the chest door" and "celebrating the birthday of the new crown" have made him infamous in the F1 car world, and his voice has never been broken.
Some people are sad and some people are happy, and the driver's position vacated by Ma Zeping after being released also gives the other four drivers the opportunity to represent Haas in F1.
Chip shortage crisis or intensified by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict?
Don't worry about scolding the street when you see this, it is not that I am sensationalizing and forcibly related to The eyeballs, but the two sides of this conflict, Ukraine and Russia, each have an indispensable and important resource in the chip manufacturing industry chain.
Ukraine supplies 70% of the world's neon and 40% of krypton, both of which are essential materials for the lithography process, which can be used as chip processes.
Russia is rich in palladium metal, which is also used in the packaging of chips.
Ukraine is currently the world's largest producer of neon, supplying about 70% of the world's neon and about 40% of the krypton, and these two gases are necessary materials for the lithography process, which can be used as a chip process; in addition, palladium metal owned by Russia is mainly used in the aerospace, nuclear energy, automobile manufacturing industries, and palladium metal is also used in the chip packaging process. Seeing this, do you think that this Russian-Ukrainian conflict will be another heavy blow to the chip industry? At least, OLIVER Zipse, CEO of BMW and president of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, has recently issued an early warning that the chip shortage problem will continue to adversely affect the auto manufacturing industry for a long time to come.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict may further exacerbate the chip shortage crisis.
Conclusion: A local armed conflict on the Border of Europe has exposed the weakness of Russia's civilian industry, and the domestic auto industry relies on the embarrassment and bitterness of foreign forces, even as bystanders, we have experienced. The deeper understanding is to sincerely praise the wisdom of the mainland's long-term strategic decision to build a complete industrial system. At least as small as the ballpoint refill, as large as the Shenzhou spaceship, we have the "Heavenly Dynasty is rich in products, omnipotent, the original did not rely on foreign goods to pass through the existence", can live a "do not have to rely on others to breathe" solid life.
F1 Shock/Chip Shortage Intensified?