Official Proposes Measures to Recover Domestic Car Production Industry

The rescue of the domestic car production industry can be achieved through improving the quality of Russian cars and not through a rise in import duties on used cars, deputy head of the government's staff Alexey Volin told journalists today. He commented on the appeal of State Duma deputies to the government asking for state support of domestic car manufacturers.

According to Volin, storage facilities of Russian car plants are filled with unsold cars despite a government decision to introduce virtually prohibiting duties on foreign cars older than seven years, which was passed last year. He also stated that after the introduction of new import duties, the average price for used foreign cars increased by $1,100 compared to the first half of 2001 and prices for domestically produced cars went up by $900m.