03:32 PM
Saturday 26 February 2022
Books – Muhammad Al-Rubi:
Amr Suleiman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Amal Group for the assembly and manufacture of cars, agents of the Russian Lada and BYD brands, said that the Russian Lada company has not yet informed Al-Amal that there are any problems or that would disrupt the production lines of the locally assembled Granta car against the background of the war between Russia and its neighbor Ukraine.
The outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war a few days ago caused a state of confusion in the global economy, especially after the United States and European Union countries announced a number of sanctions against Russia in the areas of energy, finance, transportation, export controls and visa restrictions in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
Suleiman added in a statement to “Masrawy” that the impact of the war on Lada cars in Egypt will remain entirely dependent on the economic sanctions imposed on Russia, especially those sanctions that affect banks, transfers and international credits.
He explained that if the SWIFT banking system was disrupted, the impact would be immediate on Lada in Egypt, because it would sever relations between banks, which would disrupt the entire business process.
Suleiman confirmed that the Al-Amal Group has a stock of spare parts that will suffice the Lada Granta production line for a period of 3 months, and that the crisis is still in its infancy, and it is difficult to clearly predict the impact of the sanctions.
He revealed that the Hope team has begun to think of solutions and alternatives since the outbreak of the war, including increasing the production of the BYD F3 model, or adding another model from the Chinese company to the production lines, but that may take at least a year to be completed.
He pointed out that hope is currently waiting for full clarity of vision, and it has a relationship with “Lada” that goes back more than 20 years, and it cannot dispense with its Russian partner so quickly.
Al-Amal chief attributed the disappearance of the completely imported Lada Granta Liftback in the Egyptian market to the customers’ orientation of the sedan version, pointing out that the company has a stock of imported Largos, and that there is a shipment on its way to Egypt, and another shipment is waiting for shipment in one of the Russian ports.
It is noteworthy that Lada Granta is currently available in the Egyptian market in 3 categories, the first manual at 174 thousand pounds, the second automatic at 194 thousand pounds, and the third automatic at 204 thousand pounds, while the Lada Largos is available in a 7-passenger class, at 298 thousand pounds.