The German concern BMW will set up a full-cycle plant for the production of its cars in the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation, said the Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Denis Manturov.

"The project for the production of BMW cars will be implemented within the framework of a special investment contract, the parameters of which are now being coordinated by the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia and the government of the Kaliningrad region," he said in an interview. "Vedomosti" .

At the end of last year it became known that the Russian division of BMW is a subsidiary of BMW Rusland Automotive LLC for the planned production of cars and auto components.

Earlier it was reported that the German concern, in addition to the westernmost region of the Russian Federation, also considered sites in the Moscow region, where they had already decided to build factories Daimler AG and the "daughter" of the Japanese concern Toyota - Hino, the newspaper notes. BMW also thought about building a plant in the Kaluga region and the possible use of a General Motors plant in St. Petersburg, but eventually chose the Kaliningrad region.

“We have extensive experience in this region,” a representative of the concern explained to the publication. Since 1999, BMW cars have been at the facilities of the Avtotor Kaliningrad plant. They produce models of the third, fifth and seventh series, crossovers X1, X3, X4, X5, X6. The production capacity is about 40 thousand vehicles per year.

Avtotor's management reported that a special investment contract (admission to in exchange for investment) is planned to be signed for the construction of a full-cycle car assembly plant for the production of BMW. This has already been done by a competitor of BMW - Daimler, which by 2019 will produce Mercedes-Benz passenger cars in the Moscow region.

Preferences in exchange for investments

Another reason is "the policy of the authorities, favorable for investments," added the source of Vedomosti. A special economic zone (SEZ) also operates in the Kaliningrad region, and its residents receive budget subsidies comparable to the costs of paying customs duties when importing components, the publication notes.

BMW is considering several sites for the construction of a plant in this region, the main option is a plot of 56 hectares in the Khrabrovo industrial park, said the head of the Kaliningrad region, Anton Alikhanov. According to him, during the construction phase, which will take from two to two and a half years, the site will be leased, and then the company can buy it out.

The cost and other parameters of the project in BMW, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the regional government have not yet been disclosed. It is expected that these will be investments only by BMW, comparable to the cost of similar projects in Russia, Alikhanov said.

As reported, the Daimler car plant under construction in the Moscow region will cost the company about 250 million euros. In the fall of 2017, senior vice president of BMW Hendrik von Künheim said that the company's investment in creating a full-cycle production in Russia could amount to several hundred million euros.

According to the newspaper's source, the capacity of the future BMW plant will be comparable to the brand's sales in Russia. According to statistics, in 2017, Russians became the owners of 31,598 BMW cars.

BMW's interest in building a full-fledged plant in Russia is associated with the upcoming change in state regulation of foreign companies in the Russian Federation, which will require the concern "deeper localization in order to fully conduct business," explained von Künheim.

Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economic Development are developing a new investment regime that will replace the existing agreements on industrial assembly in the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Industry and Trade believes that special investment contracts that provide admission to state support in exchange for investments, increased localization, etc., are optimal for the new regime, the article notes.

The presence of a special investment contract will also give BMW back the opportunity to participate in government purchases - they previously accounted for 3% of total brand sales in Russia, the brand representative explained. In addition to federal benefits, the company will receive preferences at the SEZ level, including a zero rate on income taxes, property, land tax in the first few years of the project, and reduced insurance premiums, Alikhanov said.

The Kaliningrad company Avtotor, which produces BMW cars, has two events. Firstly, now the first batch of cars of the third series is being assembled there, which will be delivered to official dealers just a few days ago. Secondly, the Russian company was awarded a certificate of compliance with the ISO 9002 quality standard.

Let us remind you that the production facilities in Kaliningrad are designed to produce ten thousand vehicles per year. But in reality the plant produces less. This is due to only one reason - demand. Moreover, Avtotor itself does not sell finished products. He is only a contractor, and the customer is BMW Russland Trading, which is responsible for both production volumes and sales.

The geographical location gives Avtotor solid advantages over other enterprises that assemble foreign cars. Largely due to the free economic zone regime, Kaliningrad products are at least 20% cheaper than imported ones. This circumstance significantly influenced the level of Russian BMW sales. Plans for 2001 look very solid. They can be judged by the order that Avtotor received from BMW - over two thousand cars. It can be assumed that a double increase in volumes will be achieved thanks to the introduction of the third series, which, in terms of the number of sales, is likely to come close to the most popular "five" in Russia.

WHAT IS IT WORTH FOR ISO?

The point is that ISO is not just a standard. It is an international organization headquartered in Geneva, which includes 63 states. She has developed a number of generally recognized quality standards, which are numbered ascending (9001, 9002, 9003, etc.), depending on the completeness of the process covered. Each number implies some strictly defined type of activity. Moreover, it is not the quality of the final product that is assessed, but the entire system that makes it possible to produce high-quality products. For example, the ISO 9002 standard assigned to Avtotor provides quality assurance in the following areas: management, planning, production and work with personnel. However, it excludes the design and sale of vehicles.

It should be noted that ISO standards are not static documents. They are constantly being modified in accordance with the increasing requirements not only for certain goods, but also for production as a whole. For example, a year ago, changes were made regarding the protection of the environment, facilitating the application of the system in all industries, for all types of products and services, as well as adapting standards for use by small and medium-sized enterprises.

Several authorized organizations have the right to audit companies. In the case of Avtotor, the German company TUV Suddeutschland, based in southern Germany, was quite logical. Its specialists are well acquainted with BMW factories and therefore know very well what a modern automobile plant should be like. In addition, TUV has accumulated significant experience in Russia. She is engaged in the certification of production facilities of AvtoVAZ. By the way, since 1994, this organization has certified 32 Russian enterprises of the chemical, metallurgical, machine-building and automotive industries.

Specifically, obtaining a certificate does not give any immediate benefit. It's just that ISO is a mandatory attribute, it is impossible to run a modern business without it. But, having received the long-awaited paper one day, the managers of the company cannot "rest" in any case. The fact is that compliance with the standards must be confirmed annually. And this is far from a formal procedure. If the slightest doubt arises, auditors will immediately come to Kaliningrad, from whom you will not expect any favors. Such a system really guarantees quality and does not allow the manufacturer to relax. So now Avtotor is faced with the difficult task of retaining the conquered positions.

So far, everything is in order with quality in Kaliningrad, which was confirmed at a press conference by Wolfram Rem, Head of Quality Management at BMW AG. He noted that today Avtotor has become the number one among all foreign production facilities of the company. And yet Kaliningraders should not flatter themselves. The current level of quality is largely due to the low speed of the conveyor, which moves only a few centimeters per minute. Because of this, workers have a lot of time to carry out operations at a leisurely pace. As the volume of production increases, the speed will increase. Then the quality system created at Avtotor will face serious tests.

Today, neither for us, nor for the manufacturer, it makes no economic sense to export products to European countries or to other regions. It is much more interesting to focus on the Russian market, which has been showing signs of revival lately. I also want to emphasize that now quantitative indicators are not very important for BMW. The main thing is to achieve excellent quality, and only then increase production volumes. When the cars had just started to be assembled in Kaliningrad, many customers doubted the level of domestic assembly. We, in turn, adhered to the only correct, in my opinion, point of view: there is no Russian or German quality. Cars assembled in your country must be exactly the same as the products of other BMW factories. The result exceeded expectations. Avtotor achieved the level set by the German company much earlier than the deadline. But the final confirmation is the ISO 9002 certificate, which is not awarded for beautiful eyes.

In principle, every BMW plant has such a certificate. But in the case of Avtotor, no one forced him to undergo a strict audit. This was the initiative of Kaliningrad. I would like to emphasize once again that ISO 9002 is not a quality certificate for cars. It is a document certifying all production, from management to the activities of workers on the conveyor. / "Expert, Auto # 4 (26), April 2 /

The carmaker BMW plans to build a full-cycle car assembly plant in Russia. This was reported on Friday, October 6, by the Vedomosti newspaper with reference to a person familiar with the managers of the German company. According to him, we are talking about a plant where assembly, welding and body painting will take place.

At the same time, stamping of body parts, the production of engines and transmissions at the enterprise is unlikely to be carried out due to its low, according to plans, capacity, comparable to sales of cars of the brand in the Russian market (in 2016, the BMW Group sold in Russia, according to Avtostat, 28 867 cars).

Senior Vice President of BMW Hendrik von Künheim confirmed to the publication that the German automaker is going to increase the level of localization of production in Russia. “State regulation of foreign companies in Russia will change in the coming years. And this will require deeper localization from us in order to fully conduct business, ”he said.

According to him, in Russia, cars are produced in several technological zones located in the Moscow, Kaluga, Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions. Munich has studied all these locations and is now at the decision-making stage, which can last from several weeks to several months. “I want us to dot the i's - whether we go alone or with someone in partnership,” explained Künheim. He noted that BMW's investment in new production could reach several hundred million euros.

Kaliningrad again?

According to the source of Vedomosti, the management of BMW considers the Kaliningrad region to be the main option for the location of the new car plant, since there is a special economic zone (SEZ), whose residents receive budget subsidies comparable to customs payments paid for the import of components.

“We cannot comment on events that have not yet taken place,” a representative of a Russian company told Forbes about the possible construction of a full-cycle BMW plant in the Kaliningrad region in cooperation with Avtotor.

The executive director of Avtostat, Sergei Udalov, believes that the choice of the German automaker of the Kaliningrad region for the construction of a full-cycle plant would be justified. BMW has good cooperation with Avtotor. “We can talk about the development of an existing project, which is much simpler and will require less investment,” Udalov told Forbes.

Since 1999, BMW has been producing its cars at the facilities of the Avtotor company (No. 49 in the Forbes rating of 200 largest companies in Russia) in the Kaliningrad region. Manufacturing is carried out using the SKD method. The main owner of Avtotor is Vladimir Shcherbakov. In 2016, Avtotor produced 94,354 vehicles. 19% of them - about 18,000 - are BMW cars (sedans of the 3rd, 5th and 7th series and crossovers X1, X3, X4, X5 and X6).

Since 1997, the company has been operating in the preferential regime of the Special Economic Zone of the Kaliningrad Region.

BMW and Avtotor previously did not rule out the construction of a full cycle car plant in Russia. In April 2014, the company even had an agreement on cooperation and the construction of a new car plant in Kaliningrad. “The contract with BMW has been signed, the site is being developed, the plant is being designed,” said the then president of Avtotor Holding, Valery Draganov. But the matter stalled.

“Unfortunately, colleagues from BMW are very strong, let's say, pull the cat by the tail,” said the head of the region Anton Alikhanov at the beginning of 2017 (quote from RNS). Alikhanov said that BMW is expected to arrive in the region and the entire infrastructure has already been prepared, there is a completely finished site.

Later, the management of Avtotor announced that for the construction of a full-cycle plant for the production of BMW in the Kaliningrad region, it is planned to sign a special investment contract (SPIC), which means admission to state support in exchange for investment. In May 2017, the founder of Avtotor, Vladimir Shcherbakov, announced that at the upcoming negotiations in Munich he hopes for a final discussion of the draft SPIC in order to present the draft contract to the governor in June. On September 6, a representative of Avtotor told Forbes that the investment contract has not yet been signed and “is at the stage of negotiations and other, so to speak, processes”. He declined to comment on the details of these processes, citing certain commitments.

The deputy head of the Industrial Development Fund, which is the operator of investment contracts, Sergei Vologodsky told Vedomosti that Avtotor had worked on the SPIC conclusions in 2016. And BMW did not apply to conclude an SPIC and did not seek advice on its preparation. “There are no applications for the conclusion of a special investment contract from both companies,” noted Vologodsky.

The conclusion of the SPIC is a major step towards the construction of a plant in Russia. BMW's competitor, Mercedes-Benz, has already managed to do this. On June 9, 2017, the Ministry of Industry and Trade approved the conclusion of a special investment contract for a project for the production of Mercedes-Benz cars in the Moscow region. The corresponding agreement was signed in early June 2017 during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. On June 22, Deputy Prime Minister of the Moscow Region German Elyanyushkin announced that production at the Mercedes-Benz plant in the Solnechnogorsk District will open in 2019. The design capacity of the plant is 25,000 E-class sedans and crossovers GLE, GLS and GLC per year. The cost of the project is € 250 million.

Well, at least that's what Avtotor itself claims.

Such a scandal has never happened in the Russian car industry, perhaps even once ...

The Kaliningrad plant Avtotor, which specializes in assembling BMW cars, was abandoned by the Russian representative office of the German brand after a number of clients filed lawsuits against it.

Myths about the high quality and reliability of Bavarian cars assembled in Kaliningrad are debunked by auto expert Sergey ASLANYAN

The site of the plant says in detail that "Product quality is assessed according to 10,862 parameters." For the key model 5 of the E39 series, the quality reached “the highest indicator at BMW enterprises”, and when the new “five” E60 was launched in 2004, the plant achieved an exorbitant level and therefore “the management of the concern decided that all new foreign assembly projects would be tested on "Avtotor". Finally, in our country there were people, technologies and the opportunity to overtake foreigners and make a product like a human being, along the way giving the native consumer a product superior in quality to the original. And all this is the Avtotor plant, the leader of the automotive industry, the locomotive of the industry, the standard of quality.

The deception came to light gradually, but on a large scale. When the unattainable high quality of the cars assembled at Avtotor turned into a series of warranty repairs, some customers wished to return the collapsed cars to the company and get money. But dealers quietly hid work orders confirming the fact of warranty repairs, and the Russian representative office of the Bavarians explained that “BMW Russland Trading LLC is not a seller (manufacturer, importer or authorized organization) of your car. We have no legal basis to consider your claim for a replacement vehicle or a refund, we hope for your understanding, respectfully, BMW Russland Trading LLC, Filippov, customer claims specialist. " That is, BMW has not the slightest relation to what people are doing in Kaliningrad and on what basis they assemble BMW cars there is unknown.

BMW customers do not suffer from excess patience and, having paid two, three, four, five million rubles for the Kaliningrad counterfeit, went through the courts and won them crushingly. Representatives of the concern kept the onslaught, like the Germans at Konigsberg, skillfully explaining to the court and customers that they had nothing to do with these cars produced in Kaliningrad, and they had no authorized organization in Russia, but in the end they repeated the historical outline and retreated from the field battle, reimbursing customers for losses.

The list of complaints against motor vehicles' BMWs turned out to be incredibly extensive and includes everything that makes up a car - from exhaust system gaskets to jammed steering controls and the need to overhaul the engine with a ridiculous mileage of 10,000 km. There is a defect in both components and assembly, carried out by the hands of the domestic proletariat, who have passed the TUV control audit en masse and decorated with the ISO 9001: 2008 quality certificate. The site of the plant exudes pride: “Significant efforts and funds have been spent on improving the qualifications of management and working personnel. Several leading quality auditors of the plant were trained in Germany at BMW plants. Avtotor received a certificate of compliance with the international quality standard ISO 9002 from TUV Management Service in February 2001 and became the first machine-building enterprise in Russia to have such a certificate.

It turned out that the horse was not fed. There are a lot of papers, but the quality is domestic, familiar ... AVTOVAZ. And even the list of problems has something in common. On "Kalina" electric power steering of the Korean company "Mando" is on, on BMW there is on power steering of all possible European manufacturers, which is difficult to count, but, for example, the sixth replacement of the supplier took place on the X3 model.

It turns out that the system for obtaining certificates has been worked out, but it is still not possible to achieve quality from the workers. Staff shortage, low qualifications and the question "What to do?", Transformed into "Where to get decent staff?"

And then clever Bo Andersen came to AVTOVAZ, starting with inevitable layoffs. He knows very well that in his new field there are enough 15,000 workers instead of the current 80,000 people. The layoffs have already been announced and 7,500 people are sent out of the gate in the first tranche, 5,000 of them are the same proletariat. At their native AVTOVAZ, they are superfluous, useless, useless and dangerous for production. But just outside the outskirts, they turn into experienced specialists, skillful and responsible, useful to the cause. The role of an exile in Russia has historically earned respect. A kick in the ass raises the status and completes either the halo of a martyr, or the image of a hero who drank injustice and received what he deserved. In general, in our country they love the poor, thrown over the fence and wandering in search of a better life. Where should the dismissed go? Moreover, this is the first tranche, and soon from AVTOVAZ several tens of thousands of specialists of comparable level will be thrown into the wild. As expected, it turned out that in the halo of high qualifications, suitability for business and good workmanship, i.e. people in our country still believe in the tale of the great martyrs.

Ramzan Kadyrov invited these people to his place in Chechnya. It is even difficult to imagine their reaction. Perhaps, after such an invitation, one will want to seriously respond to Dmitry Medvedev's venture to develop the Far East.

And then an invitation came from Avtotor. Director Alexander Sorokin addressed the exiles and disenfranchised through a newspaper and outlined the prospects of the upcoming 15 factories for the production of components and a working settlement for 50,000 people.

If the courts lost by BMW had already been forgotten in the distant past, or the Togliatti quality was not systemic, but accidental, and the country would not have known about the equal sign between BMW and Zhiguli, the invitation of workers from useless AVTOVAZ to the Europeanized Avtotor would have caused bewilderment. turning into a quiet panic. After all, people in whose hands they make solid "Zhiguli" should not be allowed near real BMWs. There is a chasm between brands in everything, including the most important parameter - quality. And you can only call the poor in a decent place secretly, hiding the fact, in every possible way fighting leaks to the press.

But this is still a symbol of quality for ordinary people BMW, Avtotor is a worthy bearer of certificates, and the company's representative office is an honest partner of the consumer. Reality canceled all three stereotypes. BMW in quality fell to the level of "Zhiguli", "Avtotor" has nothing to do with the Bavarian concern and makes counterfeit cars, the company has no representative office in Russia, and we despise the client, is removed from the law of the Russian Federation "On Protection of Consumer Rights" and is deprived of the opportunity to use BMW cars without any problems without court support. Therefore, there is nothing surprising in inviting people from Togliatti to Kaliningrad. Former VAZ employees are in the right place on the Avtotor. Priceless personnel will logically join the team, find themselves in their own environment and continue the familiar work.

The German concern "BMW" became the first large automobile enterprise that decided to start assembling cars on the territory of Russia. The Avtotor enterprise is located in Kaliningrad, and today this company supplies the largest number of BMWs entering the Russian market. At the same time, many people have doubts: is it worth taking a car assembled in Russia, how much better will a German-made BMW be? Opinions on the forums can be found directly opposite, while objective evidence of both points of view is difficult to provide.

What attracts Russian buyers to truly German cars

One of the main advantages of a truly German car is the quality of the engine. As a result, the durability of the entire structure depends on the reliability of the motor, and it was German technology in this parameter that outstripped many manufacturers around the world. And it is precisely the reliability that ultimately lacks the products of the Russian car industry. BMW has already become a symbol of practicality, quality and comfort all over the world.

Distinctive features of this car: excellent handling due to the coordinated work of complex electronic systems, efficient brakes, a comfortable interior in which a driver of any size will feel comfortable. For all its positive qualities, BMWs are focused specifically on city traffic, so they are not designed for difficult road conditions. After the company began assembling cars at the Kaliningrad plant, heated debates broke out among fans of this brand regarding the quality of the cars.

Features of "BMW" assembled in Russia

How to distinguish a German-made BMW from a Kaliningrad one? The Russian assembly is equipped with a number of design differences. Since Avtotor's products are mainly aimed at Russian customers, a special “Russian package” had to adapt them to non-standard local conditions. The main distinguishing features of the "Russian" BMW:

• The clearance increased by 22 mm made it possible to achieve increased cross-country ability. Taking into account the situation on Russian roads, such an addition can hardly be called superfluous.
• Stiffer shock absorbers and reinforced anti-roll bars (both front and rear). This will allow the machine to remain operational longer.
• Electronics allows you to start the car even in severe frost conditions.
• Many motorists note that the Russian assembly is less sensitive to the quality of gasoline, which is important, given the quality of fuel at most gas stations.

Thus, the traditional BMW has become more durable, designed to overcome difficulties and travel on those routes for which the car was not originally intended at all. You can check the exact place of assembly of the car using the VIN-code. This is a marking that is put on the engine, and in which the country of manufacture must be reflected. Russian cars are marked with the letter "X". You can go shopping with a friend who knows where to find the VIN.

What to choose: German or Russian assembly

So far, almost entirely imported components are used for the production of BMWs at the plant in Kaliningrad. That is, it is difficult to talk about the discrepancy in the quality of the machines, since in the end they pass the same quality control. At the same time, many note that when driving a vehicle assembled in Russia, the noise is louder, and the car, as a result, turns out to be less durable. However, these disadvantages can be attributed to the quality of service, and to the observance of the rules for operating the machine.

Cars assembled in Kaliningrad end up undergoing a triple quality control: initially, the parts are checked by the manufacturer, then they are checked upon entering the plant, and, ultimately, they are finally checked after assembly. The likelihood of marriage in this case is reduced to a minimum, so the "Russian" BMWs are not much inferior to the German ones. The Russian assembly has been on the market for 13 years.

An important factor determining the purchase of a Russian assembly is its cost. On the forums, the question is often asked, is it possible to buy a new BMW of German assembly from a dealer? New German cars are still supplied to the Russian market, but their cost is very high. For example, the updated series BMW 520i has been available from official sellers since September last year at a price of 1.825 million rubles. Cars assembled in Russia are not subject to customs duties, so the price markups are much less.

German used car or new domestic

Which is better to buy: a used car from Germany or a new domestic one? For the price, cars made in Russia are almost equal to low-mileage models that are transported across the border. It's hard to say what exactly will be better for a Russian driver:

1. Used BMWs with low mileage, with proper operation, are not much inferior to new ones. The Germans have always been a thrifty people, and used cars arrive from abroad in very good condition, making them a bargain.
2. At the same time, the new car cannot be compared with anything else. It is always more pleasant to be behind the wheel of a car that no one else has owned before you. The purchase of new cars may fall into concessional lending programs aimed at supporting the manufacturer. This will help you save additional money.
3. The new car has a warranty card that will allow you to correct any factory defects, if any. Many owners also speak positively about the Russian assembly: the cars are quite high-quality, in no way inferior to their German counterparts, and the build quality in them is not worse.

The prejudice regarding the quality of Russian cars, of course, has good reasons. At the same time, times are changing, and one can expect that the Russian assembly will soon be at a quite decent level, gradually ousting the Western representatives of the automotive industry. So far, the choice remains only with the opinion and taste of the buyer.