Russia approves Volkswagen to sell its local assets to dealer Avilon for 125 million euros

CTOnews.com, May 16 (Xinhua) it is difficult for Russian users to buy new cars from Volkswagen, Kia, Skoda, Renault, Hyundai and Toyota, especially in the high-end and luxury car markets, such as Audi, Volkswagen (Touareg), BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

According to reports, the warehouses of Russian dealers are mostly filled with local brands, Chinese brands and electric vehicles, and the most popular ones are Lada, Chery, Harvard, Xingtu and Changan. The average price of Russian used Chinese models soared 62% year-on-year to 1.6 million rubles in early 2023, a fivefold increase from two years ago, according to analysts at Auto.ru.

The Russian government has approved the sale of the Russian assets of German carmaker Volkswagen to a unit of car dealer Avilon for 125 million euros (CTOnews.com Note: about 946 million yuan), according to Itar-Tass, Interfax and other media reports.

Avilon is said to have been allowed to acquire a 100 per cent stake in Volkswagen Group Rus LLC, Volkswagen's Russian subsidiary, as well as its fully controlled entities Volkswagen Components & Services LLC, Scania Leasing LLC, Scania Finance LLC and Scania Insurance LLC.

Russian Minister of Trade and Industry Denis Manturov said in an interview with the Itar-Tass news agency that paperwork on the deal is currently being completed.

The decision was dated April 17, and the deal was worth nearly 11.3 billion roubles on the day it was approved, compared with about 10.5 billion rubles at the current exchange rate, according to sources. The source quoted the regulator's decision to add that if Avilon needs to buy foreign currency in the domestic market to make acquisitions, its purchases will be limited to 50 million euros per day.